Social and cultural anthropology Books
American University in Cairo Press Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics, no. 42:
Book SynopsisA wide-ranging, multi-disciplinary collection of essays that decenter, critique, and problematize predominant notions of the meaning of mortality for human creativityThis issue of Alif explores the ways in which humans have come to confront their mortality across time and space. Contributions question the nature of loss, grief, and the possibility of an afterlife. Is death only an interlude? Perhaps simply the end? How have people used literature and the arts to conceptualize its relentless presence in our existence?The articles in this issue decenter, critique, and problematize predominant notions of the meaning of mortality for human creativity. They provide a wide scope of responses to mortality, anthropologically, philosophically, and psychologically. They shed light on different cultural receptions of loss, annihilation, and mortality, ranging from India to Yemen, Palestine to Iraq, the Island of Lampedusa to the war-ravished city of Beirut, among many other locales. Death is dealt with in an intimate fashion through the exploration and reinterpretation of modern and classical elegiac poetry, children’s picturebooks, fictional accounts of war, grief, and displacement, and dramatic treatments of dying and the afterlife.Contributors: Hajjaj Abu Jabr, Egyptian Academy of Arts, Cairo, EgyptKaram AbuSehly, Beni-Suef University, Beni Suef, EgyptHala Amin, Beni-Suef University, Beni Suef, EgyptShaimaa El-Ateek, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaMohamed Birairi, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef, Egypt, and American University in Cairo, Cairo, EgyptElliott Colla, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USASaeed Elmasry, Cairo University, Cairo, EgyptShaimaa Gohar, Ain Shams University, Cairo, EgyptWalid El Khachab, York University, Toronto, CanadaYasmine Motawy, American University in Cairo, Cairo, EgyptDani Nassif, University of Münster, Münster, GermanyAndrea Maria Negri, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, GermanyMarwa Ramadan, Zagazig University, Zagazig, EgyptCaroline Rooney, University of Kent, Kent, United KingdomTania Al Saadi, Stockholm University, Stockholm, SwedenMay Telmissany, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, CanadaShahla Ujayli, American University of Madaba, Madaba, JordanTable of ContentsEnglish and French SectionCaroline Rooney: Shakespeare’s Hermetic Lampedusa: From Colonial Fantasies to the Afterlife in The TempestAndrea Maria Negri: Representations of Death in al-Maqāmāt al-HindiyyaShaimaa El-Ateek: Thanatogenos: Photographing Death and Writing Mourning in Barthes’s Camera Lucida and Mourning DiaryElliott Colla: Elegy and Mobilization: Poetry, Mourning, and the Student Uprising of January 1972Marwa Ramadan: On the Threshold of Death: Liminality and Transformation in Margaret Edson’s WitTania Al Saadi: La mort dans la littérature irakienne de l’exil : L’exemple d’Inaam KachachiShaimaa Gohar: Taming the Terror of Death in George Saunders’s Lincoln in the BardoHala Amin: Frankenstein’s Monster, Past and Present: Writing Against Death in Frankenstein in BaghdadArabic SectionSaeed Elmasry: Cultural Approaches to Mortality: A Critical Overview of the Anthropology of DeathMohamed Birairi: Confronting Annihilation: Readings in Pre-Islamic PoetryKaram AbuSehly: Literature as Archive of Mortality: Walter Benjamin’s Theory of TrauerspielMay Telmissany: Death and the Annihilation of History in Egyptian SurrealismHajjaj Abu Jabr: Death of God Theology: The Holocaust of Paul Celan and Mahmoud DarwishShahla Ujayli: ‘Abd al-Salām al-‘Ujaylī’s Stories of Illness between Culture and the Medical InstitutionWalid El Khachab: Mystic Annihilation in Sufi Art: Death as a Form of LifeDani Nassif: Traumatic Past and Fantasy: Testimonies of the Undead in Rabī‘ Jābir’s BīrītūsYasmine Motawy: “Normal Grief”: Death in Children’s Picturebooks
£63.75
Sourcebooks, Inc Secrets of the Sprakkar: Iceland’s Extraordinary
Book SynopsisTHE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER!A New York Times Book Review Editor's Pick"Secrets of the Sprakkar is a fascinating window into what a more gender-equal world could look like, and why it's worth striving for. Iceland is doing a lot to level the playing field: paid parental leave, affordable childcare, and broad support for gender equality as a core value. Reid takes us on an exploration not only around this fascinating island, but also through the triumphs and stumbles of a country as it journeys towards gender equality."-Hillary Rodham ClintonIceland is the best place on earth to be a woman-but why?For the past twelve years, the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report has ranked Iceland number one on its list of countries closing the gap in equality between men and women. What is it about Iceland that makes many women's experience there so positive? Why has their society made such meaningful progress in this ongoing battle, from electing the world's first female president to passing legislation specifically designed to help even the playing field at work and at home? And how can we learn from what Icelanders have already discovered about women's powerful place in society and how increased fairness benefits everyone?Eliza Reid, the First Lady of Iceland, examines her adopted homeland's attitude toward women-the deep-seated cultural sense of fairness, the influence of current and historical role models, and, crucially, the areas where Iceland still has room for improvement. Reid's own experience as an immigrant from small-town Canada who never expected to become a first lady is expertly interwoven with interviews with dozens of sprakkar ("extraordinary women") to form the backbone of an illuminating discussion of what it means to move through the world as a woman, and how the rules of society play more of a role in who we view as "equal" than we may understand. Secrets of the Sprakkar is a powerful and atmospheric portrait of a tiny country that could lead the way forward for us all.
£11.69
Atelier Editions Nudism in a Cold Climate: The Visual Culture of
Book SynopsisA fascinating glimpse into an experimental British nudist culture that radically challenged and transformed conventional attitudes to bodies and their representations This richly illustrated volume examines the idiosyncratic phenomenon of social nudism in mid-20th-century Britain, an island nation fabled for its lack of sunshine and its reserved social attitudes. Structured across three interrelated phases, readers first encounter the movement at its genesis in the 1920s, when nudism was synonymous with vegetarianism, intellectualism and utopianism. That nascent culture proliferated in the postwar era, with a widening landscape of amateur clubs and governing organizations alongside high-circulation publications and censorship-challenging photographers. Finally, Annebella Pollen examines the movement’s redefinition as naturism, its cultural battles and its struggle to survive amid shifts in sexual liberation in the permissive 1960s. Unadorned bodies were the central campaigning tool of British naturism’s photographic propaganda. They drew attention to the cause and drove publication sales but they also attracted regular public opprobrium. Naturism’s shifting visual culture thus provides a microcosmic view of British moral, legal and aesthetic transformations in a period of rapid social change, revealing evolving perspectives on health and sex, gender and ethnicity, pleasure and power. Annebella Pollen is Reader in History of Art and Design at the University of Brighton. Her first book, Mass Photography: Collective Histories of Everyday Life, explored 55,000 amateur snapshots taken on one day in 1987. The Kindred of the Kibbo Kift examined the modernist craft and occult spirituality of former scoutmasters in 1920s England.Trade ReviewThis fascinating, engaging book demonstrates how British nudists — who later preferred to call themselves naturists — fought for legitimacy in a country not known for warm weather or liberal attitudes. -- Lauren Moya Ford * Hyperallergic *
£22.50
Atlantic Books In Search of Us: Twelve Adventures in
Book Synopsis***A Waterstones Best Books of 2022 pick***The story of the pioneering anthropologists and their adventures among civilisations that were first thought of as being primitive and savage. What they discovered, however, would change the way we think about ourselves.In the late nineteenth century, when non-European societies were seen as 'living fossils' offering an insight into how Western civilisation had evolved, anthropology was a thrilling new discipline which attracted the brightest minds of the academic world. But, by the middle of the twentieth century, colonialism was recognised as being inextricably linked to exploitation and outdated labels like 'savage' were inconceivable when so-called 'civilised' man had wreaked such devastation across two world wars.Focusing on twelve key European and American anthropologists working in the field, from Franz Boas on Baffin Island in the 1880s to Claude Lévi-Strauss in Brazil fifty years later, Lucy Moore explores the brief flowering of anthropology as a quasi-scientific area of study with all its insights and ambivalence. In Search of Us tells the story of the men and women whose observations of the 'other' would transform attitudes about race, gender equality, sexual liberation, parenting and tolerance in ways they had never anticipated. In an enthralling, perceptive narrative, Moore shows how these radical anthropologists were inspired by their time in the furthest-flung reaches of the known world, becoming pioneers of a new way of thinking. In the end, their legacy is less about understanding foreign cultures and more about their attempts to persuade human beings to look at one another with eyes washed free from prejudice. Their intention may have been to explain what they saw as the primitive world to the civilised one but they ended up changing the way people viewed themselves - at least for a time.Trade ReviewIn this skilful summary of the early years of anthropology between 1880 and 1939, Lucy Moore reveals a veritable tangle of turf wars, power scrambles and sexual bad behaviour... Moore's fluent account confirms that there is always room for a new view, especially when it is as well done as this one. * Sunday Times *Moore doesn't sugar-coat her protagonists' many prejudices, their cavalier treatment of their indigenous subjects, or the problematic history of their discipline. But though she summarises their scholarly views, the main pleasure of her book lies in its celebration of a dozen colourful, unconventional, free-thinking lives. * Guardian *The story of anthropology's early pioneers lies at the heart of this joyfully narrated history of a scientific field that, at its best, opens our minds to the rich kaleidoscope of human experience... [A] gripping collection of life stories. * Literary Review *Entertaining... Told with a novelistic eye for the character-revealing anecdote. * Spectator *Moore's biographical approach makes for compelling and informative reading * Philosophy Now *Table of Contents1: The Pioneer: Franz Boas on Baffin Island, 1883 2: The Mentors: Alfred Haddon and William Rivers in the Torres Strait, 1898 3: The Philosopher: Edvard Westermarck in Morocco, 1898 4: The Magi: Daisy Bates and Alfred Radcliffe-Brown in Western Australia, 1910 -1912 5: The Hero: Bronislaw Malinowski in the Trobriand Islands, 1915-1917 6: The Academy: Franz Boas at Columbia University, 1899-1942 7: The Maiden: Ruth Benedict in the American Southwest, 1920s 8: The Child: Margaret Mead in Samoa, 1925 9: Insider/Outsider: Zora Neale Hurston in NewOrleans, 1928 10: The Bluestocking: Audrey Richards in Zambia, 1930-1931 11: The Trickster: Claude Lévi-Strauss in Brazil, 1938-1939
£10.44
UCL Press Ageing with Smartphones in Urban Italy: Care and
Book SynopsisAgeing with Smartphones in Urban Italy explores ageing and technology amidst a backdrop of rapid global technological innovation, including mHealth (mobile health) and smart cities.
£23.75
C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd Stuff: Humanity's Epic Journey from Naked Ape to
Book SynopsisThe fascinating tale of humankind’s journey from owning nothing to being owned—by our stuff. Why, when and how did our needs become world-destroying addictions? Over 3 million years ago, our ancestors realised they could break apart rocks for sharp edges to cut meat. That discovery changed the fate of our species and our planet. This lively, learned book charts three great leaps in humans’ relationship with objects and belongings, from the discovery of tools to the production of endless commodities. How did we go from primates who needed nothing to people who need everything? With colourful characters, astonishing archaeological discoveries, and reflections on philosophy and culture, Chip Colwell’s quest for answers takes readers to places both spectacular and strange: the Italian cave housing the world’s first painted art; a Hong Kong skyscraper where a priestess channels the gods; a trash mountain whose height rivals Big Ben or the Statue of Liberty. Humans make stuff, but our stuff makes us human—and this love affair may be our downfall. With landfills and oceans drowning in plastic, it’s time for a fourth and final leap for humanity: to reevaluate our relationship with the things that make, and could break, our world.Trade Review‘Compelling… and alarming.’ -- The New Yorker‘Colwell is chilling about our material addiction… 'Stuff' is lavishly illustrated, filled with enticing graphs, graphics and images.’ -- iNews‘Engaging.’ -- Inside Higher Ed‘An engrossing introduction for nonexperts into the big questions of material culture studies.’ -- Science‘Archeologist Colwell does an entertaining and expansive dive into how humans evolved into diehard consumers (hint: that transformation began almost three million years ago).' -- Toronto.com'A marvellously fascinating journey through our overstuffed world. Entertaining, inspiring and alarming in equal measure, I found myself learning new things from nearly every page.' -- Ed Conway, Sky News, author of 'Material World''Incredibly fresh, engaging and urgent. Chip Colwell will profoundly shift how you see your world and the mountains of stuff in it.' -- Farrah Jarral, writer, broadcaster and author of 'Anima''A fascinating, beautifully written, provocative history of how humans acquire stuff. This is a notable, at times humorous, reflection on the excesses of consumerism since prehistoric times, of relevance to all of us, rich or poor.' -- Brian Fagan, author of 'A Little History of Archaeology''Humans have too much stuff, and it is breaking the planet. Colwell brilliantly relates how and why we got here. His engaging, fun narrative through deep history and across societies describes our intense relations to the stuff we make, dream about and accumulate. Most importantly, he offers us a path to more just, equitable and sustainable lives.' -- Agustin Fuentes, author of 'Why We Believe: Evolution and the Human Way of Being''This eminently readable book reveals the very stuff that makes us human around the world, from stone tools to fast fashion. "Stuff" asks how we became so attached to so many things, and whether we’ll ever be able to survive without them. -- Lynn Meskell, author of 'A Future in Ruins: UNESCO, World Heritage, and the Dream of Peace'
£23.75
John Murray Press Exploring Culture: Exercises, Stories and
Book SynopsisExploring Culture brings Geert Hofstede's five dimensions of national culture to life. Gert Jan Hofstede and his co-authors Paul Pedersen and Geert Hofstede introduce synthetic cultures, the ten "pure" cultural types derived from the extremes of the five dimensions. The result is a playful book of practice that is firmly rooted in theory. Part light, part serious, but always thought-provoking, this unique book approaches training through the three-part process of building awareness, knowledge, and skills. It leads the reader through the first two components with more than 75 activities, dialogues, stories, and incidents. The Synthetic Culture Laboratory and two full simulations fulfill the skill-building component. Exploring Culture is suitable for students, trainers, coaches and educators. It can be used for individual study or as a text, and it serves as an excellent partner to Geert Hofstede's popular Cultures and Organizations.Trade ReviewWhat a gold mine of information! What a wealth of material! Exploring Culture is a book that gives the interculturalist real substance and real tools in the same volume. I congratulate the authors for having constructed a masterpiece in intercultural training. * David Crookall, Ph.D., Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, Editor, Simulation and Gaming *Full of both practical approaches to intercultural learning and gems of insight into how the Hofstede dimensions work out in the real world, [Exploring Culture] will likely become a dog-eared resident of every intercultural practitioner’s bookshelf. * John W. Bing, ITAP International *Exploring Culture is an impressive addition to…intercultural training, expertly written by three leaders in the field. Must reading for anyone concerned about the effectiveness of people working and living in other cultures. * Nancy J. Adler, Ph.D., McGill University, Montreal, Canada *
£20.00
Yale University Press The Lonely Crowd
Book SynopsisTrade Review“The Lonely Crowd . . . was published more than half a century ago. It remains not only the best-selling book by a professional sociologist in American history, but arguably one that has had the widest influence on the nation at large. The work . . . inevitably raises questions about the claims and limitations of academic sociology today.”—Orlando Patterson, New York Times“One of the most important books of the twentieth century.”—Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker“As accessible as it is acute, The Lonely Crowd is indispensable reading for anyone who wishes to understand American society. After half a century, this book has lost none of its capacity to make sense of how we live.”—Todd Gitlin
£14.24
Stanford University Press Brand New Nation: Capitalist Dreams and
Book SynopsisA Financial Times Best Book of the Year The first book that examines India's mega-publicity campaigns to theorize the global transformation of the nation-state into an attractive investment destination. The early twenty-first century was an optimistic moment of global futures-making. The chief narrative was the emergence of the BRICS nations—leading stars in the great spectacle of capitalist growth stories, branded afresh as resource-rich hubs of untapped talent and potential, and newly opened up for foreign investments. The old third-world nations were rapidly embracing the script of unbridled capitalism in the hope of arriving on the world stage. If the tantalizing promise of economic growth invited entrepreneurs to invest in the nation's exciting futures, it offered utopian visions of "good times," and even restoration of lost national glory, to the nation's citizens. Brand New Nation reaches into the past and, inevitably, the future of this phenomenon as well as the fundamental shifts it has wrought in our understanding of the nation-state. It reveals the on-the-ground experience of the relentless transformation of the nation-state into an "attractive investment destination" for global capital. As Ravinder Kaur provocatively argues, the brand new nation is not a mere nineteenth century re-run. It has come alive as a unified enclosure of capitalist growth and nationalist desire in the twenty-first century. Today, to be deemed an attractive nation-brand in the global economy is to be affirmed as a proper nation. The infusion of capital not only rejuvenates the nation; it also produces investment-fueled nationalism, a populist energy that can be turned into a powerful instrument of coercion. Grounded in the history of modern India, the book reveals the close kinship among identity economy and identity politics, publicity and populism, and violence and economic growth rapidly rearranging the liberal political order the world over.Trade Review"A hugely thoughtful and innovative analysis of the phenomenon known as 'India Inc.'. Skillfully written—with a good measure of irony, humor, and bite—this book will set the standard for our understanding of this topic and period." -- Sumathi Ramaswamy, James B. Duke Professor of History and International Comparative Studies * Duke University *"Brand New Nation takes us on a tour—a tour de force, really—of the changing trajectory of the nation-state: specifically, its transformation from a liberal democratic polity into a business enterprise, underpinned by the neoliberal faith in the capacity of markets to produce utopic futures. Ravinder Kaur has a wonderfully acute eye for the telling example, the revealing case, the moment of historical rupture that opens a window onto the process of nation branding and the corporatization of the state. As a result, Brand New Nation is a riveting read—in addition to being a pathbreaking piece of work." -- John Comaroff * Harvard University *"Ravinder Kaur convincingly argues that the era of 'happy globalization' is over in India and that it is largely responsible for the dominant repertoire of national-populism under Modi. It is not only the new middle class that has asserted itself after the 1991 liberalization that is very supportive of Hindu nationalism, but the aspiring categories coming from the plebeians are also finding a sense of belonging in Hindutva politics. Kaur's book is a truly remarkable exploration of the unintended political consequences of economic developments, as in India capitalism and religious national-populism have clear affinities." -- Christophe Jaffrelot, Research Director * Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique *"[Brand New Nation] offers a new, enriching, and also, counter-intuitive perspective....This important book is a must-read." -- Roshan Kishore * Hindustan Times *"This book addresses...[many] questions with clarity and insight, and is an important read for all interested in contemporary India, media and cultural studies, and the making of a hegemonic imaginary." -- Aparna Gopalan * New Books Network *"This is an original and highly provocative book." -- Martin Wolf * Financial Times *"[Kaur] peels off layers and layers of contemporary Indian history to prove, on her own terms, that the 'manifestation of Hindu cultural nationalism and market liberalisation' owe their dominance to each other....Following the course of Kaur's arguments is a sheer treat." -- Ullekh NP * Open Magazine *"Ravinder Kaur has written a perceptive, compelling, and very engaging book. This is the first systematic treatment of the remaking of politics and ideology in the wake of the economic resurgence in India and offers a radical rethinking of nationalism." -- Tirthankar Roy * H-Asia *"Kaur's work is a lyrical tale of pitching India to the world as an 'attractive destination for investment capital.'... She shines in every page of Brand New Nation, and every page is a treat of elegant writing, sharp insights, and nuanced analysis." -- Tarique Niazi * Global Policy *"Brand New Nationis atour de forcethat sheds light on how post-colonial India has changed and is changing rapidly. Kaur's book opens our eyes to those changes." -- Karthik Nachiappan * The Wire *
£23.39
Duke University Press White Innocence
Book SynopsisIn White Innocence Gloria Wekker explores a central paradox of Dutch life—the passionate denial of racial discrimination and colonial violence coexisting alongside aggressive racism and xenophobia—to show how the narrative of Dutch racial exceptionalism elides the Netherland's colonial past and safeguards white privilege.Trade Review"White Innocence explains why white Dutch people seem unable to grasp the racism of Zwarte Piet: Assured of their own social progressivism, they can a priori think and therefore do no wrong. . . . Wekker concludes her work with a plea for 'another "embarrassment of riches,"' for acknowledging the racism staring us in the face. In the United States, we might start by recognizing that there is, and always has been, no more audacious identity politics than white identity politics, as Trump and his white-supremacist ilk gleefully demonstrate. At least the illusion of innocence has been stripped away. Or perhaps not?" -- Nick Barr Clingan * The Nation *"White Innocence exposes how Dutch racism is infused with classism, sexism, and homophobia in discussions of everyday racism that includes [Wekker's] own personal exoticization as a child and criminalization as an adult, TV talk shows and films, experiences of mixed-race families, white gay liberation that constitutes Dutch homonationalism . . . and the 'siloing' of gender and race/ethnicity in politics and academics that makes intersectional policy and scholarship impossible. In doing so, Wekker reveals the very real personal consequences for people of color when their very existence is in service of white people." -- Melissa F. Weiner * Journal of Anthropological Research *"White Innocence provides a welcome and thought-provoking impetus to think more acutely about the long-term impacts of imperialism, as well as about the interrelations between colonies and metropole." -- Bart Luttikhuis * History: Reviews of New Books *"White Innocence makes a significant contribution to the field of critical whiteness studies by examining the role of race, especially whiteness, and the legacy of colonialism in the present-day Netherlands." -- Shannon Sullivan * philoSOPHIA *"White Innocence is an enticing invitation to confront the contradictions of Dutch discourse on race, colonialism and violence. . . . Wekker’s work is of vital relevance for those willing to unlearn the legacy of colonialism." -- Lucía Berro Pizzarossa * European Journal of Women's Studies *"This book has been a long time coming. . . . An exemplary work of critical scholarship." -- Paul Mepschen * Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1. "Suppose She Brings a Big Negro Home": Case Studies of Everyday Racism 30 2. The House That Race Built 50 3. The Coded Language of Hottentot Nymphae and the Discursive Presence of Race, 1917 81 4. Of Homo Nostalgia and (Post)Coloniality: Or, Where Did All the Critical White Gay Men Go? 108 5. "For Even Though I Am Black as Soot, My Intentions Are Good": The Case of Black Pete 139 Coda. "But What about the Captain?" 168 Notes 175 References 193 Index 215
£18.89
Center for Humans and Nature Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations,
Book Synopsis*2022 Nautilus Book Award Gold Medal Winner: Ecology & Environment *2022 Nautilus Book Award Special Honors as Best of Anthology For readers of Braiding Sweetgrass and The Overstory From The Center for Humans and Nature, a collection in five volumes: essays, interviews, poetry, and stories of solidarity that highlight the interdependence that exists between humans and nonhuman beings We live in an astounding world of relations. We share these ties that bind with our fellow humans—and we share these relations with nonhuman beings as well. From the bacterium swimming in your belly to the trees exhaling the breath you breathe, this community of life is our kin—and, for many cultures around the world, being human is based upon this extended sense of kinship. Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations is a lively series that explores our deep interconnections with the living world. More than 70 contributors—including Robin Wall Kimmerer, Richard Powers, David Abram, J. Drew Lanham, and Sharon Blackie—invite readers into cosmologies, narratives, and everyday interactions that embrace a more-than-human world as worthy of our response and responsibility. These diverse voices render a wide range of possibilities for becoming better kin. Contents: Planet: What are the sources of our deepest evolutionary and planetary connections, and of our profound longing for kinship? Place: To what extent does crafting a deeper connection with the Earth’s bioregions reinvigorate a sense of kinship with the place-based beings, systems, and communities that mutually shape one another? Partners: How do relations between and among different species foster a sense of responsibility and belonging in us? Persons: Which experiences expand our understanding of being human in relation to other-than-human beings? Practice: What are the practical, everyday, and lifelong ways we become kin? From the recognition of nonhumans as persons to the care of our kinfolk through language and action, Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations is a guide and companion into the ways we can deepen our care and respect for the family of plants, rivers, mountains, animals, and others who live with us in this exuberant, life-generating, planetary tangle of relations. Proceeds from sales of Kinship benefit the nonprofit, non-partisan Center for Humans and Nature, which partners with some of the brightest minds to explore human responsibilities to each other and the more-than-human world. The Center brings together philosophers, ecologists, artists, political scientists, anthropologists, poets and economists, among others, to think creatively about a resilient future for the whole community of life.Trade Review“This collection is a passionate call to turn towards the living Earth with reverence and respect, and in so doing to cultivate new and old forms of curiosity, of understanding, and of responsibility. Across five captivating volumes, Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations brings together a rich diversity of voices and perspectives. Contributions range in form from poetry to interviews and essays, drawing on and engaging with the insights of Indigenous stories, philosophy, the natural sciences, and much more. Ultimately, this is a collection that does much more than simply describe the webs of relationship that are our world of kin. At the same time, it invites and at times pulls the reader into a sense of the fundamental sharedness of all life and our profound obligations, perhaps now more than ever, to hold open room for others to be and to become in their own unique and precious ways.”—Thom van Dooren, author of The Wake of Crows: Living and Dying in Shared Worlds“Essential reading about the question of our time: how to belong. A chorus of beautiful, wise, grieving, exulting, and generative voices, guiding us into true ‘family values’ for a wild living Earth. These collections offer rare and rich insight into how to find, honor, and heal the bonds of blood, place, time, and ethics that knit us to all other beings.”—David George Haskell, author of The Forest Unseen and The Songs of Trees"Sometimes when we are working with a document, when it’s growing and changing, we call it “live.” Likewise, this book is live. It’s full of life. It’s living inside you as you read it and you are living inside it. It’s changing you and you’re changing it. May this book be a living document that guides us toward love and care for all kin."—Janisse Ray, author of Wild Spectacle"The Kinship series of books is an ensemble of outstanding essays that reveal the truth that reality is rooted in relationships. After reading these marvellous essays, it becomes crystal clear that there is no reality outside relationships. These books shatter the old story of separation between humans and Nature and explode the belief that nature is a machine and the planet Earth is a dead rock. Here is the new story of the living Earth and a celebration of deep connectivity of life; human as well as more-than-human life. These are inspiring and enlightening essays. They will change your perception of Nature. I recommend these books wholeheartedly!"—Satish Kumar, Founder, Schumacher College, Editor Emeritus, Resurgence & Ecologist“What a joyful series this is, this family of books, crafted with love, clarity, and compassion by a family of poets, scholars, and sages. Together the volumes form a five-part harmony, converging beautifully around notions of kinship and kinning. The authors ask, how do we rightly relate? How may we learn to live well with our kin? Can we listen with sensitivity to the voices and languages of others, the beings with fur, claws, wings, scales, and fins with whom we share the mountains, rivers, seas, grasslands, and forests, places that ring with spirit and meaning, too, who are family, too? The chapters are stories as much as studies, narratives born from experience, wisdom, and observations over many generations. I can’t wait to share this family with my students and colleagues in conservation and anthropology, and with my friends and kin everywhere.“—Dr. Amanda Stronza, Anthropologist and Professor of Ecology and Conservation Biology, Texas A&M University“Kinship is essential reading. Five books of elemental grace and charm, beginning with a spider's web. Each strand glistens in the sunlight, dreaming, catch and release, a journey through the multiverse. Each gathering of words, a page, a tribe, a story of who we are, who we have been, and who we've yet to become, shiny, bright, new, and very old. The DNA of rock and stone, of all our relations, the chemistry of breathing, letting go, and Love. Again, again, and again.”—John Francis, PhD, author of Planetwalker: 17 Years of Silence, 22 Years of Walking “At a time when divisive politics and human-first ideologies dominate public discourse, Kinship provides a deeply-moving, soul-rejuvenating, and course-correcting primer for recognizing and building relationships among all living things. Here readers will find solace in essays and poems about what we’re losing, as well as inspiration for how to live well with other humans—and with our other-than-human kin. But Kinship is more than instructive. Taken together, these exquisite volumes are a balm for the soul.”—Dr. Amy Brady, Executive Director of Orion magazine"Kinship is the type of series I would want to gift to my wild, untamed, and unschooled children, for from its pages springs an education at the end of homogenous time, a crack in the tarmac of ascension, an insurgency of the hitherto invisible. At a time when the human is no longer tenable as a category unto itself, we will need the prophetic voices of these poets, philosophers, mothers, fathers, scientists, thinkers, public intellectuals, artists, and awestruck fugitives to kindle a politics of humility, to help us fall down to earth from our gilded perches, to help us stray from the threatening familiarity of our own image. It is time to meet the others we imagined we left behind: this constellation of stars will guide us."—Bayo Akomolafe, Ph.D., author of These Wilds Beyond our Fences: Letters to My Daughter on Humanity’s Search for Home “The Kinship series upends colonial paradigms around humans and our relationship with more-than-human nature. These paradigms have driven mainstream environmental movements to engage in myopic efforts that at times have exacerbated ecological imbalances. Through stories, essays, art, poetry, and more, contributors chip away at the layers that bind our collective colonial ethos. Rather than owning nature, we are urged to think about our kinship with all that is nonhuman. Rather than controlling our environments using methods rooted in human exceptionalism (i.e., we know best), we are urged to learn from our kin. Rather than “using” land, water, and wildlife as “natural resources,” we are urged to be in reciprocity and right relationship with our kin. Rather than labeling birds, rocks, and rivers as “it,” we are urged to think of them as persons who have their own rights. Rather than being static, we are urged to be kinetic (Kin-etic?). Decolonization begins with unlearning, and this is a good place to begin.”—Aparna Rajagopal (she/her), founding partner of the Avarna Group and cofounder of PGM ONE Summit"The wonderful essays gathered here will stir minds and open hearts with the reminder that kinship is about how all things are connected, and that these relationships are best when acknowledged, attended to, and above all, savored."—Florence Williams, author of The Nature Fix: How Being in Nature Makes us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative"A powerful, multidimensional work of extraordinary vision and reach whose overarching theme of humans sharing encounters with our other-than-human relations presaged a project out of the ordinary."—Resilience
£63.75
Yale University Press The Story of Work
Book SynopsisThe first truly global history of work, an upbeat assessment from the age of the hunter-gatherer to the present dayTrade Review“Absolutely fascinating. . . . The breadth of the scholarship is breathtaking, but the prose is clear and sometimes leavened by dashes of dry wit. . . . Lucassen’s own compassion shines through this magisterial book.”—Christina Patterson, The Guardian“Full of colour, surprise and human warmth. . . . Exhausted yet enlightened, any reader reaching the end of Lucassen’s marathon will understand that the problem of work runs far deeper than politics, and that the grail of a fair society will only come nearer if we pay attention to real experiences, and resist the lure of utopias.”—Simon Ings, Daily Telegraph“Readers . . . will find much to enjoy and fascinate on the level of brute historical fact if not on that of overarching theme.”—James Marriott, The Times, “Book of the Week”“This is a huge book, spanning every continent and subjects as wide-ranging as hunter-gatherers, slavery and Zoom workers.”—Emma Jacobs, Financial Times“Whereas traditional histories often present drudges and slaves as anonymous extras in the dramas of luminaries, passive in the face of their unhappy fates, Mr Lucassen affords them attention and agency.”—Economist“Lucassen attempts what properly can be called not just a world history of work, but a human history of work. On this important point, we can hope that Lucassen’s text is in the vanguard of comprehensive histories of any topic.”—Daniel A. Segal, Times Literary Supplement“Jan Lucassen’s fascinating book explores the ways in which humanity organises labour across the world, and how labour relations have evolved over time. . . . Lucassen challenges those across the political spectrum to rethink how we value and define work.”—Caitlin Allen, Reaction“Pleasingly diverse, thoughtfully considering case studies from a range of cultures and the divergent experiences of men and women around the world.”—BBC History Magazine“Lucassen’s diligent empirical study quietly puts grand ideologies and theories of work in their place. . . Work has evolved over time, and Lucassen gives a compelling and comprehensive account of that evolution.”—Lyndsey Stonebridge, New Statesman“Lucassen is a lively writer with an eye for the arresting detail.”—The Week, “Book of the Week”“Brilliant, magisterial multi-millennial tour de force of world history. . . . Filled with fascinating facts and ideas, it’s essential reading for our strange times.”—Simon Sebag Montefiore, BBC History Magazine, “Books of the Year”“A work of enormous richness of content and argument. . . . This is a book to be both read closely and systematically and dipped into and consumed in smaller pieces.”—Stephen Davies, Econlib“An encyclopaedic and opinion-packed tour de force ranging over millennia. We may need to work to be useful, to give our lives meaning, to cooperate and for our self-esteem; but some ways of organizing work are so much fairer and more rewarding than others. A brilliant book.”—Danny Dorling, author of Slowdown“If being forced to work feels bad, it is nowhere near as bad as having no worthwhile work to do. Lucassen’s masterly book shows how the human need for fulfilment in shared tasks has confronted technological and social forces that pit us against each other in a struggle to appropriate the material rewards of work and the esteem that comes with it.”—Paul Seabright, author of The Company of Strangers“This magisterial study distils a life’s work to make sense of labour relations over millennia. Lucassen probes the degrees of freedom under which people have created meaning, sought cooperation and demanded fairness in households, plantations, workshops and factories across the globe.”—Eileen Boris, author of Making the Woman Worker“Lucassen brilliantly anchors world history in human agency through work. In every era, he finds the household as the backbone of work—the site of domestic labour and the source of social labour. Throughout, he illustrates the principles of meaning, cooperation and fairness in work. A memorable volume.”—Patrick Manning, author of A History of Humanity
£14.99
Duke University Press Liquidated
Book SynopsisAn ethnography of Wall Street, investment bankers and the cultural logics of finance.Trade Review“Karen Ho has picked an excellent time to publish her fascinating new study . . . of Wall Street banks. . . . As field-sites go, Wall Street is not classic anthropological territory: ethnographers typically work in remote, third-world societies. . . . Ho nevertheless embarked on her study in classic anthropological manner: by blending into the background, listening intently, in a non-judgmental way – and then trying to join up the dots to get a ‘holistic’ picture of how the culture works. That patient ethnographic analysis has produced a fascinating portrait that will be refreshingly novel to most bankers.” -- Gillian Tett * Financial Times *“Ho's study shows the intense competitiveness that is instilled in these primarily Ivy League recruits even before they are finished with their Bachelor's degrees. And she examines the myth that stockowners and companies are best served by maximizing shareholder profits. If anything, this book gives faces to the people who work in that abstract entity called Wall Street that seems to affect our world so much of late. I highly recommend it, especially if you have no idea how the world of high finance operates.” -- James Franco * Huffington Post *“After several decades when anthropologists at last overcame their inhibitions concerning the study of money, Karen Ho’s book . . . seems to mark a coming of age for the contemporary discipline. . . . The intelligence of its author shines through Liquidated. . . . I found it rewarding to read and reflect on, a landmark in the burgeoning anthropology of money.” -- Keith Hart * American Ethnologist *“The book’s great strength lies in Ho’s careful observation of the means by which people succeed or fail on Wall Street, as she punctures many of the assumptions about how markets work.” -- Keir Martin * TLS *“[A] unique portrait of the industry that asks pertinent questions about constant change, job insecurity, and the banker’s identity. . . . Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street asks many questions that those who work in the investment field should ask themselves. . . . Although many in the financial industry will not agree with Ho’s hypotheses and conclusions, they will be challenged by the questions she raises and enthralled by the body of fieldwork she presents.” -- Janet J. Mangano * Financial Analysts Journal *“Ho’s refreshing ethnography of the daily lives of Wall Street investment bankers . . . outlines a web of practices, beliefs and structures that may be vital to understanding what keeps the market system in place despite built-in instabilities.” * Publishers Weekly *“Karen Ho is my hero. . . . Her ethnography of investment bankers in the late 1990s, Liquidated, depicts the bravado, callousness, and contradictions that are the hallmarks of investment banking culture.” -- Mitchel Y. Abolafia * American Journal of Sociology *“Liquidated is an interesting description of many of the practices and orientations that exist in large investment banks, one that confirms what the reader may suspect: that these institutions are forcing-grounds for the sort of hubris and invulnerability that goes with the phrase ‘Masters of the Universe’, the incomprehensible money that sales staff receive, and the idea that they are ‘doing God’s work’. It also, however, indicates the reverse of the strength of the social studies of finance. Liquidated may help explain why those in investment banks think and operate in the ways that they do.” -- James G. Carrier * Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute *“Liquidated is a must-read book for anyone interested in how legions of recruits from Ivy League colleges come to espouse and enact the twisted bundle of class interests and market ideology that constitutes neoliberal capitalism.” -- Kathryn Dudley * American Studies *“The book contains many wonderful insights, and is a veritable mine of quotations from Wall Street participants. . . . The book is, moreover, extremely well written throughout . . . . [A]n informed and informative text.” -- Brett Christophers * Environment and Planning A *“Although written for a mostly academic audience, the book becomes easily digestible because of the summaries Ho adds in each section. She connects well the main theme throughout any areas of the book. Ho’s views should not be considered ‘anti-Wall Street’ but viewed as an analysis of Wall Street’s effect on the American community and the financial markets. This book should be read by Wall Street investment bankers and corporate managers to better understand the social values and responsibilities of corporations and the role that they play in the American community.” -- Linda Kee-Koa * International Examiner *“[E]ngaging and hard to put down. . . Karen Ho’s book is a must-read for anyone contemplating joining one of the major global banks. . . . Actually, even faculty of our elite schools are starting to question why so many of their graduates end up in finance. Karen Ho’s book should be required reading for students and faculty at these schools.” -- Ben Lorica * Quant Network *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction: Anthropology Goes to Wall Street 1 1. Biographies of Hegemony: The Culture of Smartness and the Recruitment and Construction of Investment Bankers 39 2. Wall Street's Orientation: Exploitation, Empowerment, and the Politics of Hard Work 73 3. Wall Street Historiographies and the Shareholder Value Revolution 122 4. The Neoclassical Roots and Origin Narratives of Shareholder Value 169 5. Downsizers Downsized: Job Insecurity and Investment Banking Corporate Culture 213 6. Liquid Lives, Compensation Schemes, and the Making of (Unsustainable) Financial Markets 249 7. Leveraging Dominance and Crises through the Global 294 Notes 325 References 353 Index 369
£22.79
Melville House Publishing Culture As Weapon
Book SynopsisA leading activist art curator explores the ways corporations and governments have used culture to mystify and manipulate us.
£14.39
Random House Publishing Group Ancestors
Book SynopsisAn eye-opening investigation into ancestry and origins in the Middle East that synthesizes thousands of years of genetic history in the region to question what it means to be indigenous to any land?Ancestors transcends geography to launch an eye-opening inquiry into the relationship of genetics and identity. It?s a transformational read for us all.??Jason Roberts, author of Every Living Thing and A Sense of the WorldIn recent years, genetic testing has become easily available to consumers across the globe, making it relatively simple to find out where your ancestors came from. But what do these test results actually tell us about ourselves?In Ancestors, Pierre Zalloua, a leading authority on population genetics, argues that these test results have led to a dangerous oversimplification of what one?s genetic heritage means. Genetic ancestry has become conflated with anthropological categories such as ?origin,? ?ethnicity,? and even ?race? in spite of the complexities that underlie these concepts. And nowhere is this interplay more important and more controversial, Zalloua writes, than in the Levant?an ancient region known as one of the cradles of civilization and that now includes Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and parts of Turkey.Born in Lebanon, Zalloua grew up surrounded by people for whom the question of identity was a matter of life or death. Building on years of research, he tells a rich and compelling history of the Levant through the framework of genetics that spans from one hundred thousand years ago, when humans first left Africa, to the twenty-first century and modern nation-states.A timely, paradigm-shifting investigation into ancestry and origins in the Middle East, Ancestors ultimately reframes what it means to be indigenous to any land?urging us to reshape how we think about home, belonging, and where culture really comes from.
£22.10
Penguin Books Ltd The Animals Among Us The New Science of
Book SynopsisThe bestselling author of Dog Sense and Cat Sense explains why living with animals has always been a fundamental aspect of being humanIn this highly original and hugely enjoyable work, John Bradshaw examines modern humans'' often contradictory relationship with the animal world. Why, despite the apparent irrationality of keeping pets, do half of today''s American households, and almost that figure in the UK, have at least one pet (triple the rate of the 1970s)? Then again, why do we care for some animals in our homes, and designate others only as a source of food? Through these and many other questions, one of the world''s foremost anthrozoology experts shows that our relationship with animals is nothing less than an intrinsic part of human nature. An affinity for animals drove our evolution and now, without animals around us, we risk losing an essential part of ourselves.
£10.44
The University of Chicago Press Perfect Wave
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Veteran art critic Hickey delivers another poignant and masterful collection of essays. In each selection, he critically and humorously contemplates cultural zeitgeists and the essence of good art in music, books, paintings, and architecture. His razor-sharp insight and witty prose make for an entertaining read. . . . While his prose is charming and at times aphoristic, Hickey is always serious when challenging the status quo or defending the cultural innovators who, in his view, have realized art’s potential as a medium for beauty, democracy, and unabashed self-expression." * Publishers Weekly *"He remains one of the finest American cultural critics, for he opens his own pleasures to appreciative scrutiny and collective relish." * PopMatters *Table of ContentsBaby Breakers Cool on Cool: William Claxton’s World “Goodbye to Love” Wonderful Shoes A World like Santa Barbara It’s Morning in Nevada: On the Campaign Trail in Post-Bush America My Silk Road The Last MouseketeerAfter the Prom Firecrackers: Terry Castle Celebrates Her Independence¡Una Lesbiana Enamorada! Susan Sontag His Mickey Mouse Ways Mitchum Gets Out of Jail The Real Michelangelo Reading Ruskin Writing Palladio’s Song Morris Lapidus: Life as We Know It Art Fairies Little Victories
£14.25
Profile Primitive Mythology
Book SynopsisThe Masks of God is the summation of Joseph Campbell's lifelong study of the origins and function of myth. In this volume, Primitive Mythology, Campbell examines the primitive roots of spiritual beliefs among our ancient ancestors. Drawing on anthropology, archaeology and psychology Primitive Mythology confirms the fundamental unity of mankind (not only biologically but in shared spiritual history). As a whole, the landmark quartet The Masks of God traces mankind's history as a search for meaning through ideas, themes and quests of culture and religion.Trade ReviewCampbell has become the rarest of intellectuals... a serious thinker who has been embraced by popular culture. -- Newsweek * . *One cannot but admire the width and diversity of Joseph Campbell's scholarship. Campbell's great gift is for fluent and engaging exposition. -- New Society * . *Looks at the myths, rituals and legends of the Western world... The human race is united not just biologically but also spiritually, by ... continually recurring themes, subjects and stories... It is an extremely thorough contribution to our knowledge of the origins of the legends, themes and symbols which are integral to modern culture, both Eastern and Western. -- Tribune * . *Campbell's words carry extraordinary weight, not only among scholars but among a wide range of other people who find his research down mythical pathways relevant to their lives today. -- Time * . *Campbell's masterwork... has inspired passages connecting with the luminously permanent, beyond gender, beyond time. -- The Guardian * . *
£18.00
Palgrave USA Toward An Anthropological Theory of Value The
Book SynopsisThis volume is a synthesis of economic, political, and cultural theories of value. David Graeber re-examines a century of anthropological thought about value and exchange and argues that projects of cultural comparison are in a sense necessarily revolutionary projects.Trade Review'I have not enjoyed or been so inspired by a work in anthropological theory for quite some time - I am convinced that this book is extremely important to the field of anthropology and to social theory more generally, offering alternatives to the relentlessly bleak theorizing of most post-structuralist and postmodernist critical theory - I think this book might well become a classic.' - Thomas Abercrombie, NYU 'David Graeber is probably the most exciting young anthropologist in the field today.' - Judith Friedlander, Dean of Social Sciences (Graduate Faculty), New School for Social ResearchTable of ContentsA Few Words by Way of Introduction Three Ways of Thinking about Value Current Directions in Exchange Theory Value as the Importance of Actions Action and Reflection, or, Notes Toward a Theory of Wealth and Power Wampum and Social Creativity Among the Iroquois Marcel Mauss Revisited The False Coin of our Own Dreams, or, the Problem of the Fetish IIIb
£49.49
Taylor & Francis Fifty Key Scholars in Black Social Thought
Book SynopsisFifty Key Scholars in Black Social Thought is a collaborative volume that uplifts and explores the intellectual activism and scholarly contributions of Black social thinkers. It implores readers to integrate the research of Black scholars into their teaching and research, and fundamentally, to rethink the dominant epistemological claims and philosophical underpinnings of the Western social sciences. It features 50 chapters, written by 55 scholars who explore the diverse contributions of notable Black thinkers, both historical and contemporary.Four thematic areas organize this workâBlack epistemology, Black geopolitics, Black oppression and resistance, and Black families and communities. Through a close analysis of the fifty thinkers presented here, the chapters explore these themes while dismantling the whitewashed disciplinary histories, methodologies, and content that obscure and/or subjugate the significance of Black social thought. In addition to offering insightfu
£35.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Research Methods in Linguistic Anthropology
Book SynopsisFor research in linguistic anthropology, the successful execution of research projects is a challenging but essential task. Balancing research design with data collection methods, this textbook guides readers through the key issues and principles of the core research methods in linguistic anthropology. Designed for students conducting research projects for the first time, or for researchers in need of a primer on key methodologies, this book provides clear introductions to key concepts, accessible discussions of theory and practice through illustrative examples, and critical engagement with current debates. Topics covered include creating and refining research questions, planning research projects, ethical considerations for research, quantitative and qualitative data collection methods, data processing, data analysis, and how to write a successful grant application. Each chapter is illustrated by cases studies which showcase methods in practice, and are supported by activities and exTrade ReviewResearch Methods in Linguistic Anthropology offers a much needed and valuable collection of reflections on methods as well as practical guidelines for planning and carrying out research projects in linguistic anthropology ... The last chapter on grant writing is especially worth mentioning as it covers a topic which is not often transparently discussed in academic writing ... The high amount of detail and practical guidance to different methods across the chapters makes the book a rich resource for teaching. * LINGUIST List *The book provides an invaluable sourcebook/guide, with innovative approaches for researchers wanting to document language, culture, and human sociality as phenomena emergent through interactive practices. State-of-the-art chapters creatively investigate how to approach, conduct, and document fieldwork in linguistic anthropology with flexibility, ethics, and contingency always in the forefront. * Marjorie Harness Goodwin, Distinguished Research Professor of Anthropology, UCLA, USA *When I ventured to Madagascar in 1969, I took along a portable tape recorder, 35mm camera, and revered monograph as inspiration and proceeded to improvise fieldwork. I so wish I could reverse history to benefit from the practical, ethical, and theory-relevant apprenticeship offered in Perrino and Pritzker’s extraordinary Research Methods in Linguistic Anthropology. * Elinor Ochs, Distinguished Research Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, USA *This book offers a broad perspective of methods from multiple authors and a diverse perspective of how those methods can be conceptualized and applied in different social and historical contexts. Therefore, this volume is a key resource for students as well as experienced researchers in linguistic anthropology and related fields. * Lanuage in Society *Table of ContentsIntroduction, Sabina M. Perrino and Sonya E. Pritzker 1. Navigating Topics and Creating Research Questions in Linguistic Anthropology, Farzad Karimzad and Lydia Catedral 2. Reviewing the Literature in Linguistic Anthropology, Justin B. Richland 3. Planning Your Research, Deborah Jones and Ilana Gershon 4. Care as a Methodological Stance: Research Ethics in Linguistic Anthropology, Steven P. Black and Robin Conley Riner 5. Participant Observation and Fieldnotes in Linguistic Anthropology, Sonya E. Pritzker and Sabina M. Perrino 6. Interviews in Linguistic Anthropology, Sabina M. Perrino Audio-Video Technology For and In the Field: A Primer, Gregory Kohler and Keith M. Murphy 7. Video Ethnography: A Guide, Teruko Vida Mitsuhara and Jan David Hauck 8. Transcription & Analysis in Linguistic Anthropology: Creating, Testing, and Presenting Theory on the Page, Merav Shohet and Heather Loyd 9. Online Research and New Media, Archie Crowley and Elaine Chun 10. Mixed Methods and Interdisciplinary Research in Linguistic Anthropology, Sonya E. Pritzker 11. Grant Writing for Projects in Linguistic Anthropology, Sonia Neela Das
£28.49
New York University Press The Playdate
Book SynopsisA playdate is an organized meeting where parents come together with their children at a public or private location to interact socially or play. Children no longer simply go out and play, rather, play is arranged, scheduled, and parentally-approved and supervised. How do these playdates happen? Who gets asked and who doesn't? What is acceptable play behavior? In The Playdate, Tamara R. Mose focuses on the parents of young children in New York City to explore how the shift from spontaneous and child-directed play to managed and adult-arranged playdates reveals the structures of modern parenting and the new realities of childhood. Mose argues that with the rise of moral panics surrounding child abuse, pedophilia, and fears about safety in the city, as well as helicopter parenting, and over-scheduling, the playdate has emerged as not just a necessity in terms of security and scheduling, but as the very hallmark of good parenting. Based on interviews with parents, teachers, childcare dirTrade Review"Sociologist Mose explores an emerging pattern of child-rearing within the context of declining use of public space, social class and the challenges busy urban families face building a sense of community." * Choice Connect *"While carefully describing the social norms of playdates and birthday parties, and how these norms differ by social class, Mose also writes with a critical eye and welcome sense of humor." * American Journal of Sociology *"The Playdateis a very engaging book . . . this work has deep implications for how we understand the reproduction of class inequality in American life." -- Emily W. Kane,author of The Gender Trap"This is an important book. Tamara Mose shines a piercing light on what we are doing forand toour children, and she effectively situates her analysis within the broader social contexts of race, gender, and class." -- Howard P. Chudacoff,author of Children at Play: An American History"A sociology professor at Brooklyn College, Ms. Mose examines the ritual of the playdate as if she were descending upon some strange tribe on a remote island. But she seems to belong to part of the world she discusses." * Wall Street Journal *
£17.59
John Wiley and Sons Ltd Slum Acts
Book SynopsisThis book examines the ways in which knowledge that is inordinate, excessive, and overwhelming comes to mark everyday life in low-income, poor neighborhoods in Delhi with crumbling infrastructures and pervasive violence. Based on long-term ethnography in these spaces, this book provides a detailed analysis of the institutions of the state, particularly of policing and law in India. It argues that catastrophic events at the national level and the techniques of governance through which they are handled secrete forms of knowing that get embedded into the nooks and crannies of everyday life, eroding trust, sowing suspicions, and leading to an exhaustion of capacity for care. Yet the paths to survival honed within these spaces generate critique that compels us to ask how punishment and torture become routinized in democracies. Following the paths of those who struggle with these questions in these neighborhoods, the book finds that deep philosophical questions, such as the inhuman as a possibility of the human rather than its boundary, arise in the weaves of these lives and are experienced as a dimension of the social. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars in anthropology and throughout the social sciences and humanities.Trade Review“This book draws on years of meticulous research on everyday life in Delhi to open a new interpretation of slums with enormous political significance. Focusing on inordinate knowledge, Veena Das traces the violence forged in entanglements of punitive law, state torture, poverty, and vernacular critique. She makes us live the ground experience of biopolitics, massively escalated by contemporary state violations in India, and affectively endured by the poor in not always tragic ways. The thought in this book is deep, elegant, and urgent.”Ash Amin, University of CambridgeTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsChapter 1: IntroductionChapter 2: The Catastrophic Event: Enduring Inordinate KnowledgeChapter 3: The Dispersed Body of the Police and Fictions of the LawChapter 4: Detecting the Human: Under Which Skies Do We Theorize?Chapter 5: AfterwordNotesReferences
£14.24
University of Minnesota Press Shaving the Beasts: Wild Horses and Ritual in
Book SynopsisA vivid first-person study of a notorious equine ritual—from the perspective of the wild horses who are its targets Wild horses still roam the mountains of Galicia, Spain. But each year, in a ritual dating to the 1500s called rapa das bestas, villagers herd these “beasts” together and shave their manes and tails. Shaving the Beasts is a firsthand account of how the horses experience this traumatic rite, producing a profound revelation about the durability of sociality in the face of violent domination. John Hartigan Jr. constructs an engrossing, day-by-day narrative chronicling the complex, nuanced social lives of wild horses and the impact of their traumatic ritual shearing every summer. His story generates intimate, individual portraits of these creatures while analyzing the social practices—like grazing and grooming—that are the building blocks of equine society. Shaving the Beasts culminates in a searing portrayal of the inspiring resilience these creatures display as they endure and recover from rapa das bestas. Turning away from “thick” description to “thin,” Hartigan moves toward a more observational form of study, focusing on behaviors over interpretations. This vivid approach provides new and important contributions to the study of animal behavior. Ultimately, he comes away with profound, penetrating insights into multispecies interactions and a strong alternative to humancentric ethnographic practices.Trade Review"Deftly pushing against three-quarters of a century of ethnographic tradition, John Hartigan Jr. creates an earnest multispecies anthropology rich with methodological and theoretical promise. He decenters the human, entangles ethological and ethnographic method and first-person narrative, and invites us to imagine a truly multispecies social theory. The horses remain the focus amid the enticing and challenging assertions about how we could (should) be ‘doing’ anthropology with other-than-humans in the Anthropocene."—Agustín Fuentes, Princeton University "In this sympathetic account of Galician wild horses and cultural rituals, John Hartigan Jr. offers an important multispecies intervention into how we conceptualize sociality and subjectivity. His clear and lively prose captures the nuance of horse interactions and relationships, making this book a pleasure to read and teach."—Laura A. Ogden, author of Swamplife: People, Gators, and Mangroves Entangled in the Everglades "Shavings the Beasts makes its fascinating and creative subject matter highly approachable and teachable. Hartigan renders rich philosophical and theoretical considerations in a clear and compelling voice that can support diverse readers to engaging these ideas."—General Anthropology
£19.79
Manchester University Press The War on the Uyghurs: China's Campaign Against
Book SynopsisThe first account of one of the world’s most pressing humanitarian catastrophes.This eye-opening book reveals how China has used the US-led Global War on Terror as cover for its increasingly brutal suppression of the Uyghur people. China’s actions, it argues, have emboldened states around the globe to persecute ethnic minorities and severely repress domestic opposition in the name of combatting terrorism.Within weeks of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, the Chinese government announced that it faced a serious terrorist threat from its largely Muslim Uyghur ethnic minority. Nearly two decades later, of the 11 million Uyghurs living in China today, more than 1 million have been detained in so-called re-education camps, victims of what has become the largest program of mass incarceration and surveillance in the world.Drawing on extensive interviews with Uyghurs in Xinjiang, as well as refugee communities and exiles, Sean Roberts tells a story that is not just about state policies, but about Uyghur responses to these devastating government programs. Providing a lucid and far-reaching analysis of China’s cultural genocide, The War on the Uyghurs allows the voices of those caught up in the human tragedy to be heard for the first time.Trade Review‘This book should act as a wake-up call for policy-makers worldwide. Armed with the piercing and detailed analysis of the recent past in East Turkistan, and the graphic accounts of the present, no one has any further excuse for failing to grasp the full reality of the human tragedy that is taking place. Roberts de-mystifies the background, debunks the false excuses of the Chinese state, and presents the reality of the persecution unfolding before our eyes. None of us can afford to look away.’ Ben Emmerson QC, Former UN Special Rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism ‘Sean Roberts has done an immense service for all those who need to put headlines about Chinese repression of Uyghurs in recent years in proper context. Describing how the rhetoric and practices of the “Global War on Terror” since 2001 have led to the mass internment, persecution, and surveillance of the population, Sean Roberts shows that the Chinese campaign has chillingly aimed at nothing less than the destruction of Uyghur identity. This account is masterful, educational, and enraging by turns.’ Samuel Moyn, Professor of Law and History, Yale University, and author of Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World ‘This is the back story behind one of the biggest stories in China – the incarceration of more than one million Uyghurs in a dystopian network of what are claimed to be reeducation camps. Who the Uyghurs are and how they came to be classified as terrorists is a story authoritatively told by Sean Roberts, who has spent three decades studying the Uyghurs and speaks the language. The publication of The War on the Uyghurs could not be more timely.’ Barbara Demick, former Beijing bureau chief, Los Angeles Times, and author of Nothing to Envy ‘In this highly readable account, Sean Roberts provides essential historical background to the Chinese Communist Party’s “Cultural Revolution” against the Uyghurs. Distinguished by his ability to read and speak the Uyghur language, Roberts challenges global terrorism experts, who failed to interrogate the Chinese government assertion that it was combating an international terrorism threat not an anti-colonial struggle.’ Lindsey Hilsum, Channel 4 News, author of In Extremis: the Life of War Correspondent Marie Colvin ‘I first came across the Uyghurs in Guantanamo Bay, where they were guilty of no more than fleeing Chinese repression across the closest border into Afghanistan. It is a sad truth that our American “War on Terror” has given licence to repressive regimes around the world to behave even worse, as Sean Roberts lucidly describes in detailing the tragedy of the Uyghurs.’ Clive Stafford Smith, Human Rights lawyer and founder of the charity Reprieve ‘Sophisticated, nuanced, and deeply informed. Sean Roberts offers broad insights into the ways the “Global War on Terror” has enabled authoritarian regimes around the world to repress minority populations.’ Michael Clarke, Associate Professor, National Security College, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, and author of Xinjiang and China’s Rise in Central Asia: A History ‘Sean Roberts provides a comprehensive explanation for the current arbitrary mass detention of Uyghurs in China, an issue of global geopolitical significance. His book will likely become a standard reference for students on this topic.’ Max Oidtmann, author of Forging the Golden Urn: The Qing Empire and the Politics of Reincarnation in Tibet ‘A detailed, well-researched study of the ways in which the Xinjiang region in contemporary China has been linked with global terrorism by the central government, justifying extensive repressive measures. Sean Roberts offers a critique, and an indictment, of Beijing’s approach. Sobering and thought-provoking.’ Kerry Brown, Professor of Chinese Studies and Director, Lau China Institute, King’s College London ‘Giving voice to the Uyghurs themselves and drawing attention to this crisis, The War on the Uyghurs is striking, empathetic and deeply informative. Providing detail that only an expert can offer, Roberts documents what is perhaps today’s worst tragedy. Ultimately, Roberts’s contribution serves as a vital testament to the Chinese government’s strategic brutality in Xinjiang, the Uyghurs’ perilous position and the world’s failure to live up to its promise of ‘never again.’’ LSE Review of Books ‘Timely and important.’ The Times Literary Supplement ‘Roberts provides fascinating new details…revealing that organized Uighur militancy is almost entirely illusory.’ Foreign Affairs ‘Roberts’s analysis of the interaction between China’s settler colonialism and indigenous Uyghur resistance over the past ten years is far richer than what has been offered anywhere else. This is an extremely timely book, and badly needed.’ Rian Thum, author of The Sacred Routes of Uyghur History ‘A carefully researched study of Beijing’s repression in Xinjiang.’ Financial Times -- .Table of ContentsMap: Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous RegionForeword by Ben EmmersonPrefaceIntroduction1 Colonialism, 1759-20012 How the Uyghurs became a 'terrorist threat'3 Myths and realities of the alleged 'terrorist threat' associated with Uyghurs4 Colonialism meets counterterrorism, 2002-20125 The self-fulfilling prophecy and the ‘People’s War on Terror,’ 2013-20166 Cultural genocide, 2017-2020ConclusionA note on methodologyTransliteration and place namesList of figuresList of abbreviationsAcknowledgmentsNotesIndex
£15.58
Manchester University Press The Art of the Observer: A Personal View of
Book SynopsisThe art of the observer is a personal guide to documentary filmmaking, based on the author’s years of pioneering work in the fields of ethnographic and documentary cinema. It stands in sharp contrast to books of academic film criticism and handbooks on visual research methods, being based extensively on concrete examples from the author’s own filmmaking experience. The book places particular emphasis on observational filmmaking and the ways in which this approach is distinct from other forms of documentary. It offers both practical insights and reflections on what it means, in both emotional and intellectual terms, to attempt to represent the lives of others. The book makes clear that documentary cinema is not simply a matter of recording reality, but of artfully organising the filmmaker’s observations in ways that reveal the complex patterns of social life.Trade Review'Particularly gratifying are the author's explorations of the work of his amateur collaborators, as in the chapter on films children in his video workshops made between 2011 and 2016. He respects their work and points of view and seems to have genuinely meditated on their insights without being patronizing. Mixing memory and analysis, this engaging book helps readers see the filmmaker and his craft anew.'ChoiceReprinted with permission from Choice Reviews. All rights reserved. Copyright by the American Library Association. -- .Table of ContentsPart I1: The practice of documentary 2: How the visual makes sense 3: Observational Cinema: A Unique Practice4: Ethnographic film: evolution of a conceptPart II5: Structuring nonfiction films6: Filming in a closed community7: Seven types of collaboration8: Microstructures of film editingPart III9: Films and feelings10: The life of others11: The strangers within us12: How children seePart IV13: An encounter with Robert Gardner 14: The percentage of disaster15: Clearing customsFilmography BibliographyIndex
£23.74
Cornerstone Inheritance
Book SynopsisInsightful and breathtaking.' Yuval Noah Harari, author of SapiensBold and sweeping.' Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk RoadsProfoundly thought-provoking.' Kate Raworth, author of Doughnut EconomicsHow our evolved psychology has shaped the past, present and future of humanity. Each of us is endowed with an inheritance. A set of ancient biases, forged through countless millennia of natural and cultural selection, which shape every facet of our behaviour. For generations, this inheritance has taken us to ever greater heights, driving the rise of more sophisticated technologies, more organized religions, more expansive empires. But now, for the first time, it is failing us. We find ourselves careering towards a future of unprecedented political polarization, deadlier wars, and environmental destruction. In Inheritance, renowned anthropologist Harvey Whitehouse offers a sweeping account of how our evolved biases have shaped humanity's past and imperil its future. Unveiling a pioneering new way of viewing our collective history one that weaves together psychological experiments, on-the-ground fieldwork, and big data Whitehouse introduces three biases that shape human behaviour everywhere: conformism, religiosity, and tribalism. These biases have catalysed the greatest transformations in human history, from the birth of agriculture and arrival of the first kings to the rise and fall of human sacrifice and creation of multiethnic empires. Yet today, they are driving us to ruin. Taking us deep into New Guinea tribes, Libyan militias, and predatory ad agencies, Whitehouse shows how the tools we once used to manage our biases are breaking down, with devastating implications for us all. By uncovering how human nature has shaped our collective history, Inheritance reveals a surprising new path to solving our most urgent problems. The result is a powerful reappraisal of the human journey; one that transforms our understanding of who we are, and who we could be. __A profoundly important book, of breathtaking scope . . . Full of deep insights into human nature, this is a work of compelling conviction by a master in the field.' Lewis Dartnell, author of OriginsIf you spend a lot of time thinking the world seems to have gone mad, bad and dangerous, this thoughtful and thought-provoking book won't just help you work out why that might be it will also help you see a better path forward.' Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Channel 4 News presenterA very powerful, provocative and inspiring analysis of the human condition . . . Compelling and highly readable, this book shows why anthropology matters.' Gillian Tett, Financial Times columnist and Provost of King's College, CambridgeRemarkably readable . . . A powerful argument that the behaviour change we need is more likely to occur if we make use of our evolved human nature, rather than seek to transcend it.' Peter Singer, author of Animal Liberation
£10.44
Counterpoint Sex, Economy, Freedom, & Community: Eight Essays
Book Synopsis
£14.39
Berghahn Books Money Counts: Revisiting Economic Calculation
Book Synopsis Traditionally viewed as an abstraction, the quantitative nature of money is essential in evaluating the relationship between monetary systems and society. Money Counts moves beyond abstraction, exploring the conceptual diversity and everyday enactment of money’s quantity. Drawing from case studies including British jewelers, blood-money payments in Germanic law codes, and the quotidian use of money in cosmopolitical Moscow, a Western Kenyan village, and socialist Havana, the chapters in this volume offer new theoretical and empirical interpretations of money’s quantitative nature as it relates to abstraction, sociality, materiality, freedom, and morality.Trade Review “The book points to a domain of research that is still understudied by anthropologists, and is thus a stimulation to explore it further.” • Anthropological Forum “This is a compelling collection that contributes rich case studies and sharp theoretical insights for more serious anthropological attention to money, number, and calculation.” • Anthropos “This compact collection focuses on money as number, seen from a wide range of perspectives. The style is impressively dialectical, offering hope that anthropologists may soon be open to more promising ways of engaging with money.” • Keith Hart, University of Pretoria “Why do anthropologists get so uncomfortable when it comes to working with (and on) numbers? This book provides answers and exemplifies what a quantity-embracing, yet ethnographically rich, economic anthropology can look like.” • Stefan Leins, University of KonstanzTable of Contents Introduction: The Quality of Quantity: Monetary Amounts and Their Materialities Sandy Ross, Mario Schmidt, and Ville Koskinen Chapter 1. Is Gold Jewelry Money? Peter Oakley Chapter 2. Injury and Measurement: Jacob Grimm on Blood Money and Concrete Quantification Anna Echterhölter Chapter 3. Five Thousand, 5,00, and Five Thousands: Disentangling Ruble Quantities and Qualities Sandy Ross Chapter 4. “Money is Life:” Quantity, Social Freedom, and Combinatory Practices in Western Kenya Mario Schmidt Chapter 5. Money and Morality of Commensuration: Currencies of Poverty in Post-Soviet Cuba Martin Holbraad Chapter 6. ‘Money on the Street’ as a Hoard: How Informal Moneylenders Remain Unbanked Martin Fotta Chapter 7. What is Money? A Definition Beyond Materiality and Quantity Emanuel Seitz Afterword Nigel Dodd
£22.75
Little, Brown Book Group Out of Eden: The Peopling of the World
Book SynopsisIn a brilliant synthesis of genetic, archaeological, linguistic and climatic data, Oppenheimer challenges current thinking with his claim that there was only one successful migration out of Africa. In 1988 Newsweek headlined the startling discovery that everyone alive on the earth today can trace their maternal DNA back to one woman who lived in Africa 150,000 years ago. It was thought that modern humans populated the world through a series of migratory waves from their African homeland. Now an even more radical view has emerged, that the members of just one group are the ancestors of all non-Africans now alive, and that this group crossed the mouth of the Red Sea a mere 85,000 years ago. It means that not only is every person on the planet descended from one African 'Eve' but every non-African is related to a more recent Eve, from that original migratory group. This is a revolutionary new theory about our origins that is both scholarly and entertaining, a remarkable account of the kinship of all humans.Further details of the findings in this book are presented at www.bradshawfoundation.com/stephenoppenheimer/Trade ReviewA vivid synthesis of DNA studies with archaeological, climatic, anthropological and other findings . . . The thrill of this book lies in the vast reaches of time and space that one is deftly guided through. * Emma Crichton-Miller, Sunday Telegraph *I can put my finger on a map and say that is where my people came from. * The Economist *Oppenheimer strongly argues for a single movement out of Africa. He tells his story with pace and authority, combining the personal and the scientific. * Times Literary Supplement *A wonderfully readable guide for the perplexed on what modern molecular genetics may be telling us about our species' ancient origins in Africa and our many human wanderings over the earth thereafter * John Terrell, Director of Anthropology, The Field Museum, Chicago *
£12.34
Reaktion Books First Peoples: Indigenous Cultures and their
Book Synopsis"First Peoples" argues, controversially, that far from disappearing in the face of global capitalism, indigenous cultures today are as diverse as they ever were. Rather than being absorbed into a uniform modernity, indigenous people are anticipating alternative futures and appropriating global resources for their own, culturally specific needs. For Sissons, however, the traditional and the modern are not mutually exclusive: indigenous cultures and nation-states are aspects of the same contemporary condition, and their apparently opposing position is an expression of the contradictory nature of modernity in the 21st century. Indigenous people often define themselves in terms of their struggle against oppressive exterior forces; by contrast, the metropolitan cultures they struggle against often cling precariously to the surfaces of their new land. But indigenous identities have also been forged through alliances between indigenous people at international forums and in other settings. The loose alliances throughout the indigenous world constitute an alternative political order to the global organization of states. For Inuit, Eskimo and Saami in the northern hemisphere, for Mayan, Maori and Aboriginal Australians in the southern, and for more than a hundred distinct people in between, culture has become more than a heritage: it is a project. The numerous cultural renaissances that occurred throughout the indigenous world in the second half of the 20th century were more than passing events. Their momentum has continued into the new millennium, while the challenges they pose to states and their bureaucracies have become increasingly urgent. While the economic and political issues addressed by indigenous groups were and are depressingly similar racism, loss of land and resources, inadequate health and education services the solutions have been characterized by enormous cultural diversity.Trade Review'Jeffrey Sissons' short but lucid book describes what he sees as a major revival of Indigenous culture in the settler nations of the New World ... He astutely observes the need for reconstructed notions of self-determination that escape the binary of traditional/modern, and offer Indigenous peoples and the non-Indigenous fellow citizens new ways to think about the expanding urban populations and dynamics of Indigenous communities in the New World.' - API Review of Books, Australia 'An engagement with the profuse spaces, histories, languages and forms of indigenous politics, First Peoples meets these with creativity and care. In moving through and seeking possibilities in processes of urbanization, education, re-workings of knowledges and power, it is a moving argument about indigeneity in the present.' - Graduate Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies
£16.96
University of California Press Making Better Coffee
Book SynopsisAn anthropologist uncovers how great coffee depends not just on taste, but also on a complex system of values worked out among farmers, roasters, and consumers. What justifies the steep prices commanded by small-batch, high-end Third Wave coffees? Making Better Coffee explores this question, looking at highland coffee farmers in Guatemala and their relationship to the trends that dictate what makes great coffee. Traders stress material conditions of terroir and botany, but just as important are the social, moral, and political values that farmers, roasters, and consumers attach to the beans. In the late nineteenth century, Maya farmers were forced to work on the large plantations that colonized their ancestral lands. The international coffee market shifted in the 1990s, creating demand for high-altitude varietalsplants suited to the mountains where the Maya had been displaced. Edward F. Fischer connects the quest for quality among U.S. tastemakers to the lives and desires of MayTrade Review"Fischer's insightful new book. . . .illustrates in great detail…how rarely that increased value benefits Maya farmers directly." * Economic Botanist *"Making Better Coffee is an engaging exploration of the value and values that surround coffee. . . .This book will be very useful for researchers, providing an excellent review of the literature. It could be used in graduate or advanced undergraduate classes." * FoodAnthropology *"A captivating and enlightening journey that delves into the intricate and multifaceted relationship between coffee production and its enjoyment by consumers." * Exertions *"Making Better Coffee offers an unabashedly practical look at real-world market spaces that impact the lives of millions of people around the world. . . . [L]earning more about and from an industry that is simultaneously functional and dysfunctional is more than desirable. It should be mandatory." * Administrative Science Quarterly *"A compelling case study of our current stage of capitalism in which controlling the means of production no longer guarantees maximum accumulation. . . . Fischer’s work demonstrates that when we make better coffee, it is not necessarily better for everyone." * Gastronomica *Table of ContentsContents Introduction 1. Creating Third Wave Values 2. Plant Biology, Capitalist Trade, and the Colonial Histories of Coffea arabica 3. German Oligarchs, First Wave Coffee, and Guatemala’s Enduring Structures of Inequality 4. Austrian Economics and the Quality Turn in Guatemala Coffee 5. Maya Farmers and Second Wave Coffee 6. Cooperation, Competition, and Cultural Capital in Third Wave Markets Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Image Credits Index
£22.50
Columbia Books on Architecture and the City Proxemics and the Architecture of Social
Book SynopsisArchitecture is a constant presence in the study of human interaction—acting as both the ground on which human social behavior is performed and a means of shaping subjectivity itself. Proxemics was an attempt to visualize and instrumentalize these dynamics, appealing to both the social sciences and the emerging field of environmental design. Founded by anthropologist Edward T. Hall and taking shape between the departments of architecture and anthropology at the Illinois Institute of Technology, proxemics developed amidst cold war political tensions and intense social and civil unrest. Proxemics and the Architecture of Social Interaction presents selections from Hall’s extensive archive of visual materials alongside a critical analysis that traces transformations in the fields of design and science. Together these materials illuminate a moment in American history when new spatial practices arose to challenge the environmental conditions of cultural, political, and racial identity.
£17.09
University of California Press Europe and the People Without History
Book SynopsisExplores the historical trajectory of so-called modern globalization. This title challenges the long-held anthropological notion that non-European cultures and people were isolated and static entities before the advent of European colonialism and imperialism.Trade Review"The work of a powerful theoretical intelligence, but one informed by a lived sense of social realities." * Times Literary Supplement *"Wolf's intention is to show that European expansion not only transformed the historical trajectory of non-European societies but also reconstituted their historical accounts of their societies before European intervention. . . . His historical sweep and analytic breadth are astounding, and he gives approximately equal weight to historical 'winners' and 'losers.'" * American Journal of Sociology *"Wolf's empirical knowledge is exceptionally wide. . . . He relies on a skillful selection of phenomena in time and space that are reasonably representative of the totality. . . . The book is very well written and with a profoundly human touch." * Ethnos *"Wolf has created a history of connection rather than one of segregation. . . . This absorbing and stimulating book . . . provides a convincing and, dare I say, new perspective. . . . By emphasizing a common past, Wolf moves away from weary polarities of active 'white' centre and passive 'non- white' periphery and suggests both a more complex and a more informed sense of the relationship between Europe and the rest of the world." * European Update *"In this big and important book, Eric Wolf begins and ends with the assertion that anthropology must pay more attention to history. . . . It is with pleasure, then, that one reads a critical analysis that rejects pseudo- historical oppositions and explores with such care the historical processes by which primitive and peasant pasts have become a fundamentally altered primitive, peasant, and proletarian present." * Dialectical Anthropology *"Wolf's intention is to explain the development and nature of the chains of cause and consequence which linked populations in the post-1400 world. The outcome is a tightly structured and elegant book." * Oceania *Table of ContentsForeword to the 2010 Edition Preface (1997) Preface (1982) Part One Connections 1 Introduction 2 The World in 1400 3 Modes of Production 4 Europe, Prelude to Expansion Part Two In Search of Wealth 5 Iberians in America 6 The Fur Trade 7 The Slave Trade 8 Trade and Conquest in the Orient Part Three Capitalism 9 Industrial Revolution 10 Crisis and Differentiation in Capitalism 11 The Movement of Commodities 12 The New Laborers Afterword Bibliographic Notes Bibliography Index
£27.00
Harvard University Press A Myriad of Tongues
Book SynopsisExploring breakthroughs in language and cognition research, Caleb Everett finds that fundamentals of human perception are culturally encoded by the words and sentences we use. The experience of time, space, color, odor, and taste is substantially influenced by language, so that basic interactions with the world vary greatly across peoples.Trade ReviewIn the Amazonian region of Brazil, where anthropologist Caleb Everett spent much of his childhood, speakers of Tupi-Kawahíb never refer to time ‘passing by.’ Indeed, the language has no word for ‘time.’ By contrast, most European languages have few abstract words for odours, whereas languages in a number of other cultures have more than a dozen. Everett’s fascinating book—based on collaboration with biologists, chemists, political scientists and engineers—ponders such differences between the world’s 7,000-plus languages. -- Andrew Robinson * Nature *An assured guide to new thinking about how language shapes the way we see the world—at a time when thousands of languages are vanishing. -- Colin Barras * New Scientist *Historically, academics have looked for commonalities among languages and focused mainly on those used by Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) societies. But, Everett says, the tide is shifting…His book synthesizes his own and others’ research that brings in data from non-WEIRD languages and broadens our understanding of how words affect cognition, including how we process the concepts of time, space, color, and kinship. -- Lucy Swedberg * Harvard Business Review *Offers readers a tantalizing glimpse into the wide variety of human speech patterns evident in the world today. * Library Journal *An enlightening examination of human communication based on the findings of linguist fieldworkers—himself included—as well as researchers in areas such as cognitive psychology, data science, and respiratory medicine. * Kirkus Reviews *Everett relates complex linguistic discussions in accessible terms, and each page is full of thought-provoking insights. * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *Blending an ethnographer’s richness with an experimentalist’s clarity, Everett adroitly explains how what we’ve learned from data-driven studies of a myriad of tongues–from Amazonia and Africa to Australia and Austronesia–has dramatically shifted our understanding of the origins and nature of our species’ most salient ability: language. Far from being an isolated projection of innate psychology, languages evolve like other aspects of culture, adapting to our ecological contexts, social norms, acoustic environments, and cognitive inclinations. Languages also shape how speakers think, feel, and even perceive. With balance and breadth, this book offers an easy entry into a fascinating, though often ferocious, interdisciplinary field. -- Joe Henrich, author of The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly ProsperousA marvelous tour of all that is amazing, perplexing, satisfying, and mysterious about languages and the humans who speak them. Everett combines up-to-date analyses with vivid descriptions of the diverse tools that humans use when they speak. His book drills down into deep mysteries but does so with a light hand, leading readers from one big question to the next. An essential read for anyone who wants to understand what we now know about language and how profoundly that understanding has recently evolved. -- Christine Kenneally, author of The Invisible History of the Human Race: How DNA and History Shape Our Identities and Our FuturesDo different languages create different experiences of the world? Everett offers up a wealth of nuanced insights on the state of the science to replace both the old exoticism and the lazy skepticism. This is an overdue and fascinating book. -- Gaston Dorren, author of Babel: Around the World in Twenty LanguagesA gift for language is a large part of what makes us human, but as Everett shows, that gift manifests itself in an astonishing spectrum of ways. As previous certainties about the structure of language erode and dissolve under pressure from new discoveries, researchers in many fields are finally grasping the importance of linguistic diversity. This is a careful yet deeply provocative work. -- Mark Abley, author of Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened LanguagesThis book resoundingly demonstrates just how different languages can be and what those divergences reveal about us as a species. Based on both cutting-edge research and the author’s own experiences in the Amazon, where he grew up and conducted fieldwork, it will appeal to anyone who is interested in the science of language. -- Nick Evans, author of Words of Wonder: Endangered Languages and What They Tell Us
£21.56
Tuttle Publishing Okinawa: The History of an Island People
Book Synopsis"The first full-length monograph on the history of the Ryukyu Islands in any Western language…a standard work."—Pacific AffairsOkinawa: The History of an Island People is the definitive book available in English on the history of Okinawa and the Ryukyu Islands, and an influential scholarly work in the field of Japanese studies. The histories of Japan, Okinawa and the entire Pacific region are crucially intertwined; therefore the review of this fascinating chain of islands is crucial to understanding all of East Asia. Few people can point to Okinawa on a map, yet this tiny island sitting between China and Japan is a hub for international affairs. The island was, and continues to be, one of the most crucial Asian nerve centers in all U.S. strategic defense. Ninety percent of all U.S. military forces in Japan are located on Okinawa, and more than 500,000 military personnel and their families have lived there. In Okinawa: The History of an Island People, noted Eastern affairs specialist George Kerr recounts the fascinating history of the island and its environs, from 1314 A.D. to the late twentieth century. First published in 1958, this edition features an introduction and appendix by Okinawa history scholar Mitsugu Sakihara, making this the most comprehensive resource on the intriguing island of Okinawa.Trade Review"[Okinawa: The History of an Island People] is history, firm, frank, organized and detailed, from the mythical past to the military present…It is a lifetime work of scholarship, full of life" --Mainichi Daily News"The first comprehensive history of the Ryukyuan people to appear in any Western language…recommended to students of East Asian culture, who will find it a valuable addition to their libraries." --The American Anthropologist"[Okinawa: The History of an Island People is] a book that answers the questions of the curious layman, satisfies the standards of critical scholarship, and is readable and fascinating besides." --American Historical Review
£16.99
John Murray Press Self-Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race
Book SynopsisA SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR A TIME 'MUST-READ' 'An extraordinarily thought-provoking memoir that makes a controversial contribution to the fraught debate on race and racism . . . intellectually stimulating and compelling' SUNDAY TIMESA reckoning with the way we choose to see and define ourselves, Self-Portrait in Black and White is the searching story of one American family's multi-generational transformation from what is called black to what is assumed to be white. Thomas Chatterton Williams, the son of a 'black' father from the segregated South and a 'white' mother from the West, spent his whole life believing the dictum that a single drop of 'black blood' makes a person black. This was so fundamental to his self-conception that he'd never rigorously reflected on its foundations - but the shock of his experience as the black father of two extremely white-looking children led him to question these long-held convictions.It is not that he has come to believe that he is no longer black or that his daughter is white, Williams notes. It is that these categories cannot adequately capture either of them - or anyone else, for that matter. Beautifully written and bound to upset received opinions on race, Self-Portrait in Black and White is an urgent work for our time.Trade ReviewThis book brings a blast of fresh air that will change your thinking about race * George Packer, author of The Unwinding *There have been a slew of books this year about racism and white privilege, pretty much saying the same thing at different volumes of indignation. This slim book is different. A mixed-race American, Thomas Chatterton Williams had to rethink what being black meant when he held his baby daughter for the first time: she was blonde, blue-eyed and pale-skinned. This humane essay is an attempt to move beyond our obsession with race and skin colour * The Times (Saturday Review), Politics and Current Affairs Book of the Year 2020 *[Williams] is so honest and fresh in his observations, so skillful at blending his own story with larger principles, that it is hard not to admire him. At a time of increasing division, his philosophizing evinces an underlying generosity. He reaches both ways across the aisle of racism, arguing above all for reciprocity, and in doing so begins to theorize the temperate peace of which all humanity is sorely in need * New York Times Book Review *An elegantly rendered and trenchantly critical reflection on 'race' and identity: one that is perfectly suited to our time. This is a subtle, unsettling, and brave book * Glenn Loury, professor of economics and faculty fellow, Watson Institute, Brown University *An energizing book by one of the greatest writers of our time * Yascha Mounk, author of The People vs. Democracy *A standout memoir that digs into vital contemporary questions of race and self-image . . . succeeds spectacularly for three main reasons: the author's relentlessly investigative thought process, consistent candor, and superb writing style. Almost every page contains at least one sentence so resonant that it bears rereading for its impact . . . An insightful, indispensable memoir * Kirkus (starred review) *A provocative philosophical argument about the role of race in human identity . . . intellectually rigorous, written in fluid prose, and frequently exhilarating * Publishers Weekly (starred) *An elegant and sharp-eyed writer . . . In a publishing environment where analyses of race tend to call out white fragilities and catalogue historical injustices, Self-Portrait in Black and White is a counterintuitive, courageous addition * Washington Post *A fluent, captivating, if often disquieting story . . . We witness Williams on a journey of both self-discovery and self-creation, and his memoir is most valuable as a way deeper into, as opposed to a way out of, race talk * Harper's *An extraordinarily thought-provoking memoir that makes a controversial contribution to the fraught debate on race and racism . . . This book certainly takes the reader on an intellectually stimulating journey and makes a compelling case for a postracial future * Sunday Times *This humane essay is an attempt to move beyond our obsession with race and skin colour * The Times *
£9.99
MIT Press Whole Earth Field Guide The MIT Press
Book SynopsisA source book for American culture in the 1960s and 1970s: “suggested reading” from the Last Whole Earth Catalog, from Thoreau to James Baldwin.The Whole Earth Catalog was a cultural touchstone of the 1960s and 1970s. The iconic cover image of the Earth viewed from space made it one of the most recognizable books on bookstore shelves. Between 1968 and 1971, almost two million copies of its various editions were sold, and not just to commune-dwellers and hippies. Millions of mainstream readers turned to the Whole Earth Catalog for practical advice and intellectual stimulation, finding everything from a review of Buckminster Fuller to recommendations for juicers. This book offers selections from eighty texts from the nearly 1,000 items of “suggested reading” in the Last Whole Earth Catalog.After an introduction that provides background information on the catalog and its founder, Stewart Brand (interesting fact: Brand go
£29.70
Princeton University Press The China Model
Book SynopsisWesterners tend to divide the political world into good democracies and bad authoritarian regimes. But the Chinese political model does not fit neatly in either category. Over the past three decades, China has evolved a political system that can best be described as political meritocracy. The China Model seeks to understand the ideals and the reality of this unique political system. How do the ideals of political meritocracy set the standard for evaluating political progress (and regress) in China? How can China avoid the disadvantages of political meritocracy? And how can political meritocracy best be combined with democracy? Daniel Bell answers these questions and more. Opening with a critique of one person, one vote as a way of choosing top leaders, Bell argues that Chinese-style political meritocracy can help to remedy the key flaws of electoral democracy. He discusses the advantages and pitfalls of political meritocracy, distinguishes between different ways of combining meritocracy and democracy, and argues that China has evolved a model of democratic meritocracy that is morally desirable and politically stable. Bell summarizes and evaluates the China model--meritocracy at the top, experimentation in the middle, and democracy at the bottom--and its implications for the rest of the world. A timely and original book that will stir up interest and debate, The China Model looks at a political system that not only has had a long history in China, but could prove to be the most important political development of the twenty-first century.Trade ReviewA Financial Times Summer Books Selection Selected as one of Financial Times (FXXT.com) Best Books of 2015 A Guardian Best Holiday Reads of 2015 selection "[I]t is part of the job of academics to ask fundamental questions that challenge conventional thinking. Bell performs this role admirably in lucid, jargon-free prose that leads the reader back to some of the most fundamental questions in political philosophy - refracted through the experience of contemporary China ... I found the questions that Bell raised consistently stimulating."--Gideon Rachman, Financial Times "Bell ... has written a fascinating study. Open-minded readers will find it equips them with a more intelligent understanding of Chinese politics and, no less valuable, forces them to examine their devotion to democracy... [The China Model] isn't just for those who want to better understand China. More than anything I've read for a while, it also forced me to think about what's good and bad about Western systems of government. From start to finish the book is a pleasure and an education."--Clive Crook, Bloomberg View "Bell makes a solid and worthy case for why the outside world might want to think about the Chinese experiment in governance a bit more deeply... This is a very clearly written book."--Kerry Brown, Asian Review of Books "The China Model ... is as important for us as it is for China. If the book brings us some humility about the ways in which an undemocratic model like China's can be deeply rooted in history and culture, it will have done good work. But it will do something better if it can remind us that our own history isn't over."--Rob Goodman, POLITICO "In careful, clear and measured prose, [Bell] works hard to overcome prejudice, defuse emotions and discuss the pros and cons in the cool language of political philosophy. This, perhaps, is the book's greatest contribution."--James Miller, Literary Review of Canada "Serious re-evaluations of democracy are inhibited by two factors: fears about the alternatives turning sour and a century of educational indoctrination that makes imagining the alternatives a frightful exercise. Bell's book should be read as an antidote (or if you prefer, an elixir) to overcome these doubts."--Siddharth Singh, Mint "This book is a welcome addition to the expanding literature on the emerging 'China model'... Bell's argument, based on his long-term observation of China's political development, provides a nuanced, thought-provoking view of the meritocratic aspects of the Chinese system that have been obscured by the broad label 'authoritarianism.' It offers an original explanation for the resilience of the Chinese regime and essentially challenges the widely held notion that liberal democracy is the universally desirable political outcome for modern societies."--Choice "Bell is not an apologist for China but someone who teaches us to ask different questions. And these questions are fascinating."--Mariana Mazzucato, Financial Times, a FT Best Book of 2015 "A must-read scholarly account of China's political development with stimulating questions, powerful analysis as well as theoretically relevant arguments."--Bingdao Zheng, Chinese Political Science Review "This book is a must-read text for all political scientists, in particular, for those who study democracy and democratization. It can open their eyes and help them to move out of their comfort zone to examine the tough and pressing issues in the real world in which democracy and meritocracy must be combined to improve democratic government and solve many practical issues."--He Baogang, Perspectives in Politics "A deeply stimulating contribution to normative political theory."--Thomas Pangle, Perspectives in Politics "In conclusion, Bell's book is interesting and intriguing. It argues convincingly that every political system is a trade-off, and asks important questions about the US (electoral) democracy and Chinese (communist) meritocracy. Bell also develops his own model, combining elements from both."--Dao "A must-read scholarly account of China's political development with stimulating questions, powerful analysis as well as theoretically relevant arguments. The discussion of political elite-recruiting system impressively spans thousands of years, from ages of empires to nowadays, and a number of countries and regions including United States, China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan among others. One has to admire the comparative perspective the author puts in various historical periods and social contexts."--Bingdao Zheng, Chinese Political Science Review "A very well-written book that presents original scholarship."--Zhiming Cheng, Political Studies Review "Reading Bell is rewarding... This book is more than a bold challenge to democracy: it serves as a sincere invitation to a sober and less ideologically loaded dialogue between East and West."--Tao Wang, Asian Journal of Comparative PoliticsTable of ContentsPreface to the Paperback Edition ix Acknowledgments xxi Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Is Democracy the Least Bad Political System? 14 Chapter 2 On the Selection of Good Leaders in a Political Meritocracy 63 Chapter 3 What's Wrong with Political Meritocracy 110 Chapter 4 Three Models of Democratic Meritocracy 151 Concluding Thoughts: Realizing the China Model 179 Notes 199 Selected Bibliography 283 Index 307
£16.19
Duke University Press The Promise of Infrastructure
Book SynopsisFrom U.S.-Mexico border walls to Flint''s poisoned pipes, there is a new urgency to the politics of infrastructure. Roads, electricity lines, water pipes, and oil installations promise to distribute the resources necessary for everyday life. Yetan attention to their ongoing processes also reveals how infrastructures are made with fragile and often violent relations among people, materials, and institutions. While infrastructures promise modernity and development, their breakdowns and absences reveal the underbelly of progress, liberal equality, and economic growth. This tension, between aspiration and failure, makes infrastructure a productive location for social theory. Contributing to the everyday lives of infrastructure across four continents, some of the leading anthropologists of infrastructure demonstrate in The Promise of Infrastructure how these more-than-human assemblages made over more-than-human lifetimes offer new opportunities to theorize time, politics, and prTrade Review"The Promise of Infrastructure offers a provocative reflection on the current academic, social, and political moment that we find ourselves in. . . . While The Promise of Infrastructure as a whole offers a surprisingly comprehensive condemnation of the 'radically human-centered thinking' that has produced the Anthropocene challenge that we now face, it also suggests the tools we will need to map out possible futures. Appropriately, these are not prescriptions promising a better future. Rather they are openings for possibility, for action, and for wonder." -- Tim Oakes * Technology and Culture *"The volume offers a highly valuable contribution to the study of human/non-human relations. Taking up Brian Larkin’s call against a premature separation of the material from the discursive, the editors argue that infrastructural matter becomes political only in relation to human ideologies, aesthetics or histories." -- Laura Kemmer * International Journal of Urban and Regional Research *"The Promise of Infrastructure is a timely and compelling account of the myriad ways in which infrastructures can be theorized and the limits and potentials of the same." -- Siddharth Menon * AAG Review of Books *"The Promise of Infrastructure is a stellar collection of essays by anthropologists and social scientists who explore roads, buildings, bridges, water meters, pipelines, power stations, and other structures which we encounter on a daily basis but whose contribution to the production of difference we frequently overlook." -- Natalia Kovalyova * Anthropology Book Forum *"This book presents a combination of insightful theorisations and an engaging ethnography." -- Sudha Vasan * Economic & Political Weekly *"The Promise of Infrastructure is essential reading for scholars and students who wish to more fully understand the ethical and social role of the 'Ideal Infrastructure,' its history, its criticisms and its (uncertain) future destiny." -- Marco Spada * Environment and History *“The edited collection by Anand, Gupta, and Appel highlights infrastructures as a promising site for ethnographic research.... [It] reveal[s] the potential of infrastructural ethnography to make visible power inequalities and exclusionary practices and expose infrastructures as powerful sites for redefining governance and belonging.” -- Daivi Rodima-Taylor * American Anthropologist *“The Promise of Infrastructure teaches the reader how large state-run infrastructures can possibly induce and solidify regimes in pursuing their political promises. . . . Insights stemming out of The Promise of Infrastructure—especially the concept of ‘ruination’—enable researchers to acquire a ‘fuller’ account of the lifecycle of an infrastructure.” -- Alex Christian * Journal of Cultural Economy *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Introduction: Temporality, Politics, and the Promise of Infrastructure / Hannah Appel, Nikhil Anand, and Akhil Gupta 1 Part I. Time 1. Infrastructural Time / Hannah Appel 41 2. The Future in Ruins: Thoughts on the Temporality of Infrastructure / Akhil Gupta 62 3. Infrastructures in and out of Time: The Promise of Roads in Contemporary Peru / Penny Harvey 80 4. The Current Never Stops: Intimacies of Energy Infrastructure in Vietnam / Christina Schwenkel 102 Part II. Politics 5. Infrastructure, Apartheid Technopolitics, and Temporalities of "Transition" / Antina von Schnitzler 133 6. A Public Matter: Water, Hydraulics, Biopolitics / Nikhil Anand 155 Part III. 7. Promising Forms: The Political Aesthetics of Infrastructure / Brian Larkin 175 8. Sustainable Knowledge Infrastructures / Geoffrey C. Bowker 203 9. Infrastructure, Potential Energy, Revolution / Dominic Boyer 223 Contributors 245 Index 249
£19.79
Atlantic Books The Making of Home: The 500-year story of how our
Book SynopsisThe idea that 'home' is a special place, a separate place, a place where we can be our true selves, is so obvious to us today that we barely pause to think about it. But, as Judith Flanders shows in this revealing book, 'home' is a relatively new concept. When in 1900 Dorothy assured the citizens of Oz that 'There is no place like home', she was expressing a view that was a culmination of 300 years of economic, physical and emotional change. In The Making of Home, Flanders traces the evolution of the house across northern Europe and America from the sixteenth to the early twentieth century, and paints a striking picture of how the homes we know today differ from homes through history. The transformation of houses into homes, she argues, was not a private matter, but an essential ingredient in the rise of capitalism and the birth of the Industrial Revolution. Without 'home', the modern world as we know it would not exist, and as Flanders charts the development of ordinary household objects - from cutlery, chairs and curtains, to fitted kitchens, plumbing and windows - she also peels back the myths that surround some of our most basic assumptions, including our entire notion of what it is that makes a family. As full of fascinating detail as her previous bestsellers, The Making of Home is also a book teeming with original and provocative ideas.Trade ReviewFascinating... A treasure chest, bursting with facts and thoughts about what homes mean and how they have been lived in: a perfect book to curl up with in the comfort of your own. -- Frances Wilson * Mail on Sunday *From the humble shack to the modern high-rise, Judith Flanders brilliantly illuminates the meaning of "home" throughout history. The Making of Home is a fascinating and ambitious exploration into the soul of family life. We are more than what we eat, we are also how we live. * Amanda Foreman *In this clever and entertaining book Flanders gives the everyday, from bed-making to drainpipes, all the vivid interest of something newly made strange. -- Lucy Hughes-Hallett * Sunday Times *A delicious yet nerdy treat... This book deserves a place on your shelves, bedside table, or ottoman * The Times *Even though I often wanted to argue with its author, I loved this book. -- Victoria Glendinning * Literary Review *The Making of Home is filled with bold arguments and memorable details... A compelling account of what was gained and lost in the quest for cosiness -- Ben Highmore * Observer *Magnificent... Wonderfully rich and witty -- Bee Wilson * TLS *Judith Flanders has many interesting, and sometimes startling, things to say about what domesticity means to us, how that meaning changed - and how it has endured... She is an efficient debunker of myths about poverty, family and the past. -- Lucy Lethbridge * Financial Times *This is a hugely informative book, and worth reading for the feminist chapter on women's changing roles alone. An absorbing read. * Daily Express *Thought-provoking... Deeply absorbing -- Charlotte Moore * Spectator *In The Making of Home, historian Judith Flanders furnishes fascinating detail on how houses have been made to feel like "home" over 500 years. * Wall Street Journal *[A] wonderful social history ... a riveting, whistle-stop tour through history. * Daily Mail *
£12.34
Duke University Press A Possible Anthropology
Book SynopsisIn a time of intense uncertainty, social strife, and ecological upheaval, what does it take to envision the world as it yet may be? The field of anthropology, Anand Pandian argues, has resources essential for this critical and imaginative task. Anthropology is no stranger to injustice and exploitation. Still, its methods can reveal unseen dimensions of the world at hand and radical experience as the seed of a humanity yet to come. A Possible Anthropology is an ethnography of anthropologists at work: canonical figures like Bronislaw Malinowski and Claude Lévi-Strauss, ethnographic storytellers like Zora Neale Hurston and Ursula K. Le Guin, contemporary scholars like Jane Guyer and Michael Jackson, and artists and indigenous activists inspired by the field. In their company, Pandian explores the moral and political horizons of anthropological inquiry, the creative and transformative potential of an experimental practice.Trade Review“Incorporating the current movements beyond 'writing culture' of twentieth-century anthropology, Anand Pandian reinstantiates the poetics of an ethnographic method that anticipates futures. In the midst of a surge of multimodal experimentation, Pandian stunningly reinvests in the narrative character of ethnography.” -- George E. Marcus, coauthor of * Ethnography by Design: Scenographic Experiments in Fieldwork *“Offering the daring gambit of revisiting anthropology's past to make it new, and critically meditating, too, upon the field's latest theoretical moves, Anand Pandian's captivating book is a stirring brief for ethnography as a method for exploring that which is and may yet be possible.” -- Stefan Helmreich, author of * Sounding the Limits of Life: Essays in the Anthropology of Biology and Beyond *"This is a book that practicing anthropologists and students of anthropology must both read." -- Shweta Krishnan * Anthropology Book Forum *"A Possible Anthropology is bold, caring, and creative in trying to confront these issues head on, in trying to imagine some other kind of world." -- Andrés Romero * Cultural Anthropology *"With a focus on figures in the discipline’s past and current practices, A Possible Anthropology contributes to debates about the future of anthropological inquiry (and the ethnographic method) in academia and the wider world. It is an evocative and inspired book, clearly written and rigorous." -- Adam Fleischmann * Anthropological Quarterly *"This book is an inspirational joy and a read I recommend." -- Robert Meckin * Qualitative Research *“Pandian has offered a strong work. . . . A Possible Anthropology is indeed a hopeful book for uneasy times, that encourages us to dive deeper into an anthropological way of engaging with the world.” -- Julia Nina Baumann * Anthropos *Table of ContentsIntroduction. An Ethnographer among the Anthropologists 1 1. The World at Hand: Between Scientific and Literary Inquiry 15 2. A Method of Experience: Reading, Writing, Teaching, Fieldwork 44 3. For the Humanity Yet to Come: Politics, Art, Fiction, Ethnography 77 Coda. The Anthropologist as Critic 110 Acknowledgments 123 Notes 127 Bibliography 141 Index 155
£17.99
Columbia University Press Regimes of Historicity
Book SynopsisA classical historian confronts our crises of time, radically calling into question our relations to the past, present, and future.Trade ReviewSince his classic Mirror of Herodotus, Francois Hartog has emerged as the most significant theorist of history and chronicler of our changing relationship to our own past that France has produced. In this series of meditative chapters, he takes us from the Greeks to the present once more, emphasizing how the theory of history must move from diagnosing the modern gap between expectation and experience to confronting the exigency of historical crisis today. Hartog's reflections are valuable for all humanists. -- Samuel Moyn, Columbia University In a book that should be required reading for anyone interested in history's role in contemporary society, Francois Hartog shows how unexamined assumptions about the past shape our understandings of ourselves and our place in history. -- Lynn Hunt, University of California, Los Angeles Francois Hartog's pioneering work on the concept of 'regimes of historicity' makes this book a must for scholars in both the social sciences and the humanities. A distinguished classical historian, Hartog uses specific, well-chosen examples to explain how understanding regimes of historicity will allow us to better understand the conditions of possibility for producing histories and, more generally, our own relationship to time. -- Robert Morrissey, University of Chicago Francois Hartog is perhaps the most important historian of historiography today... Regimes of Historicity should be required reading for anyone interested in the past, present, and future writing of history. American Historical Review Regimes of Historicity should be required reading for anyone interested in the past, present, and future writing of history. Time's BooksTable of ContentsPresentism: Stopgap or New State? Introduction: Orders of Time and Regimes of Historicity Orders of Time 1 1. Making History: Sahlins's Islands 2. From Odysseus's Tears to Augustine's Meditations 3. Chateaubriand, Between Old and New Regimes of Historicity Orders of Time 2 4. Memory, History, and the Present 5. Heritage and the Present Our Doubly Indebted Present: The Reign of Presentism Notes Index
£20.90
University of Minnesota Press Deaf Gain
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewI don’t have Deaf Gain, but I am one of the fortunate hearing people who has been able to witness it, so I know something of what I’m missing. I believe that I am made richer by the simple fact of having witnessed the merit present in what most people still presume to be a deficit. This book elucidates that argument elegantly.—Andrew Solomon, from the Foreword"Bauman and Murray. . . remind us that deafness is a part of, not apart from humanity."—Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education"The overwhelming approach is positive, optimistic, and even heroic. The concept of Deaf Gain turns on its head the usual idea that deafness should be defined through narratives of suffering and isolation. . . an excellent addition to the understanding of deafness and to the promotion of Deaf culture."—Medical HumanitiesTable of ContentsContentsForeword: Deaf LossAndrew SolomonDeaf Gain: An IntroductionH-Dirksen L. Bauman and Joseph J. MurrayEditors’ Note on TerminologyI. Philosophical Gains 1. Armchairs and Stares: On the Privation of Deafness Teresa Blankmeyer Burke2. Identifying the “Able” in a Vari-able World: Two LessonsJames Tabery3. The Case for Deaf Legal Theory through the Lens of Deaf GainAlison Bryan and Steve EmeryII. Language Gains4. Three Revolutions: Language, Culture, and BiologyLaura-Ann Petitto5. Deaf Gain in Evolutionary PerspectiveDavid Armstrong6. Deaf Gains in the Study of Bilingualism and Bilingual EducationOfelia García and Debra Cole7. What We Learned from Sign Languages When We Stopped Having to Defend ThemCindee CaltonIII. Language Gains in Action8. Advantages of Learning a Signed LanguagePeter C. Hauser and Geo Kartheiser9. Baby Sign as Deaf GainKristin Snoddon10. Manual Signs and Gestures of the Inuit of Baffin Island: Observations during the Three Voyages Led by Martin FrobisherClara Sherley-Appel and John D. Bonvillian11. Bulwer’s Speaking Hands: Deafness and RhetoricJennifer NelsonIV. Sensory Gains12. Seeing the World through Deaf EyesMatthew Dye13. A Magic Touch: Deaf Gain and the Benefits of Tactile SensationDonna Jo Napoli14. Senses and Culture: Exploring Sensory OrientationsBenjamin Bahan15. The Deaf Gain of Wladislav Zeitlin, Jewish Scientist and InventorMark Zaurov16. The Hidden Gain: A New Lens of Research with d/Deaf Children and AdultsKatherine D. Rogers and Hilary SutherlandV. Social Gains17. Deaf Gain and Shared Signing CommunitiesAnnelies Kusters18. Gainful Employment: Historical Examples from Akron, OhioKati Morton19. Effective Deaf Action in the Deaf Community in UruguayElizabeth M. Lockwood20. Deaf Gains in Brazil: Linguistic Policies and Network EstablishmentRonice Müller de Quadros, Karin Strobel, and Mara Lúcia Masutti21. Deaf Gain: Beyond Deaf CultureIrene W. Leigh, Donna A. Morere, and Caroline Kobek PezzarossiVI. Creative Gains22. DeafSpace: An Architecture toward a More Livable and Sustainable WorldHansel Bauman23. Co-Design from Divergent ThinkingAntti Raike, Suvi Pylvänen, and Päivi Rainò24. The Hearing Line: How Literature Gains from Deaf PeopleChristopher Krentz25. Deaf Music: Embodying Language and RhythmSummer Loeffler26. Deaf Gain and Creativity in Signed LiteratureRachel Sutton-Spence27. Deaf Gain and the Creative Arts: Interviews with Deaf ArtistsJennifer Grinder WitteborgAfterword. Implications of Deaf Gain: Linguistic Human Rights for Deaf CitizensTove Skutnabb-KangasAcknowledgmentsContributorsIndex
£25.19
Harvard University Press Mothers and Others The Evolutionary Origins of
Book SynopsisSarah Hrdy argues that if human babies were to survive in a world of scarce resources, they would need to be cared for, not only by their mothers but also by siblings, aunts, fathers, friendsand, with any luck, grandmothers. Out of this complicated and contingent form of childrearing, says Hrdy, came the human capacity for understanding others.Trade ReviewIn the study of mothering, Sarah Hrdy has no peer. In Mothers and Others, we are treated to Hrdy's infectious writing, taking the reader on a tour of our evolved history as a cooperatively parenting species. The ideas are big, bold, and brain-bending. -- Marc Hauser, author of Moral Minds: How Nature Designed Our Universal Sense of Right and WrongBoldly conceived and beautifully written, Mothers and Others makes a strong case that we humans are (or should be) cooperative breeders. It is an indispensable contribution to the debate about how and why we came to be the most successful primate of them all. -- Melvin Konner, author of The Tangled Wing: Biological Constraints on the Human SpiritAs was the case for her earlier classic, Mother Nature, Sarah Hrdy's Mothers and Others is a brilliant work on a profoundly important subject. The leading scientific authority on motherhood has come through again. -- E. O. Wilson"What if I were traveling with a planeload of chimpanzees? Any one of us would be lucky to disembark with all ten fingers and toes still attached...Even among the famously peaceful bonobos...veterinarians sometimes have to be called in following altercations to stitch back on a scrotum or penis," Hrdy writes. What she found is that our unique mothering instinct, quite different from gorillas and chimpanzees, meant that the children most likely to survive were those who could relate to and solicit help from others. We evolved to be wired for empathy for, consideration of, and intuition into how others are feeling. -- Jessa Crispin * Smart Set *To explain the rise of cooperative breeding among our forebears, Hrdy synthesizes an array of new research in anthropology, genetics, infant development, comparative biology. -- Natalie Angier * New York Times *For as long as she's been a sociobiologist, Sarah Blaffer Hrdy has been playfully dismantling traditional notions of motherhood and gender relations...Hrdy is back with another book, Mothers and Others, and another big idea. She argues that human cooperation is rooted not in war making, as sociobiologists have believed, but in baby making and baby-sitting. Hrdy's conception of early human society is far different from the classic sociobiological view of a primeval nuclear family, with dad off hunting big game and mom tending the cave and the kids. Instead, Hrdy paints a picture of a cooperative breeding culture in which parenting duties were spread out across a network of friends and relatives. The effect on our development was profound. -- Julia Wallace * Salon *Hrdy's lucid and comprehensively researched book takes us to the heart of what it means to be human. -- Camilla Power * Times Higher Education *Hrdy's much-awaited new book, is another mind-expanding, paradigm-shifting, rigorously scientific yet eminently readable treatise...Mothers and Others lays the foundation for a new hypothesis about human evolution...Mothers and Others is overflowing with fascinating information and thinking. It's a book you read, pausing regularly to consider the full import of what you just read...Sarah Blaffer Hrdy has added another enormous building block to our thinking about our origins with this new book. Our species is lucky to have her. -- Claudia Casper * Globe and Mail *Provocative. [Hrdy] argues that unlike other apes, Homo sapiens could never have evolved if human mothers had been required to raise their offspring on their own. Human infants are too helpless and too expensive in their demands for care and resources. So human females have to line up helpers--sometimes extending beyond their own kin--to raise their young. That requires both males and females to invest heavily in social skills for bargaining with other members of their groups. Hrdy suggests that females in ancestral hunting and gathering groups may have thrived because they were free to be flexible in this way. Female flexibility was reduced when humans established settlements requiring male coalitions to defend them, probably leading to greater control of females by males...The most refreshing aspect of [this] book is the challenge [it] offers to what we thought we already knew. -- John Odling-Smee * Nature *If Sarah Blaffer Hrdy were a male scientist, I might be tempted to say that her new book Mothers and Others arrives like an intellectual time bomb, or that it throws a grenade into accepted notions of human evolution. But those are aggressive, competitive metaphors, and one of the essential points of Mothers and Others is that aggression and competition have been given far too central a place in the standard accounts of how our species came into being. From Charles Darwin onward, those accounts are mostly the work of men, and Hrdy points out in meticulous detail how partial and biased was their understanding of the remote past...Mothers and Others offers enormous rewards. It is not only revolutionary; it is also wise and humane. -- Mark Abley * Calgary Herald *More than a million years ago, somewhere in Africa, a group of apes began to rear their young differently. Unlike almost all other primates, they were willing to let others share in the care of infants. The reasons for this innovation are lost in the ancient past, but according to well-known anthropologist Hrdy, it was crucial that these mothers had related--and therefore trusted--females nearby and that the helpers provided food as well as care. Out of this "communal care," she argues, grew the human capacity for understanding one another: mothers and others teach us who will care and who will not. Beginning with her opening conceit of apes on an airplane (you wouldn't want to be on this flight) and continuing through her informed insights into the behavior of other species, Hrdy's reasoning is fascinating to follow. -- Michelle Press * Scientific American *One of the boldest thinkers in her field...Hrdy's scope is huge...To build her arguments, she expertly knits together research from a variety of fields--fossil evidence, endocrinology, psychology, history, child development, genetics, comparative primatology and field research among hunter-gatherer societies. Her book is at once entertaining, full of apt, often colorful anecdotes, sometimes culled from her own experiences, and rich with information and case studies...Hrdy is not only synthesizing her own research on female reproductive strategies (initially on langur monkeys in India), but that of hundreds of other researchers to create what amounts to a sweeping new meta-paradigm. -- Michele Pridmore-Brown * Times Literary Supplement *In this compelling and wide-ranging book, Hrdy sets out to explain the mystery of how humans evolved into cooperative apes. The demands of raising our slow-growing and energetically expensive offspring led to cooperative child-rearing, she argues, which was key to our survival. -- Alison Motluk * New Scientist *Using evidence from diverse research fields (including ethnography, archaeology, developmental psychology, primatology, endocrinology, and genetics), Hrdy builds an engaging and compelling argument for an evolutionary history of cooperative offspring care that requires us to rethink entrenched views about how we came to be human...Mothers and Others provides a fascinating, readable account of how our hominin ancestors might have negotiated the obstacles to raising offspring. Hrdy presents a well-argued case for human evolutionary history being characterized by cooperative offspring care, which opens fresh avenues of research into the history of our species. In addition, she prompts readers to consider far-reaching questions, such as whether the nuclear family is the "best" unit in which to raise children and how learned parenting practices might determine the future of human evolution. Her thought-provoking book will interest students, specialists, and general readers alike and should focus attention on the neglected roles of mothers and others within human evolutionary theory. -- Gillian R. Brown * Science *Hrdy presents her hypothesis systematically and painstakingly, chapter by chapter, so that the result is compellingly plausible. -- William McGrew * American Scientist *Understanding the evolution of the human mind has become the holy grail of modern evolutionary anthropology and evolutionary psychology, and those who pursue it feel themselves closing in on something big. Mothers and Others is a heroic contribution to this quest. It is an anthropological T(A)E: a theory of (almost) everything, a genre for which I must confess a weakness. It stands above most other examples of the genre, however, for both its scholarship and its craft. Hrdy draws on a broad literature extending beyond the traditional domains of primatology and anthropology, with particular emphasis on developmental psychology, but breadth of scholarship and lucid vision have long been the trademarks of her writing...Hrdy is at least as gifted as a writer as [Stephen Jay] Gould and at least as clear a thinker...This is a very important book, and a beautiful one. It is a book that will delight a broad lay readership coming to it from disparate perspectives. It will be a wonderful book to assign to undergraduates in a range of courses. But most importantly, it is a challenging and provocative book for academics and scientists interested in human cognition and human evolution. Once again, Hrdy has woven together strands of material from many sources into an elegant tapestry of insight and logic, emblazoned with her vision of who we are, and why. -- Peter Ellison * Evolutionary Psychology *The book is an impressive and sustained argument for why, unlike other apes, humans are cooperative breeders...Hrdy offers some fascinating speculations about the problems whose solution might have facilitated the emergence of cooperative breeding. -- Pierre Jacob * International Cognition and Culture Institute blog *Mothers and Others is an engaging book. It is full of fascinating information from diverse fields, imaginatively harnessed to produce a coherent account of our genetic predispositions as a species. Above all, it challenges the pervasively sexist tradition within evolutionary psychology, which routinely highlights aggression and maternal care at the expense of sociability and shared care. In doing so, the book provides a rich foundation for engagement with the social sciences, exploring the articulation between our genetic predispositions and contemporary human societies. -- Michael Gilding * Australian Book Review *Convincing about the importance of alloparenting, [Hrdy] makes a rich case that draws on wide erudition about many primate species and current arguments about human cooperation. -- B. Weston * Choice *In Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding, Sarah Hrdy argues that what makes humans different from other apes is our need to rear children cooperatively. Elegantly written and, to any parent, compellingly argued. -- Morgan Kelly * Irish Times *Sarah Blaffer Hrdy is one of the most original and influential minds in evolutionary anthropology...It is possible to see Hrdy's most recent book, Mothers and Others, as the third in a trilogy that began with The Woman That Never Evolved. It may be the most important...[It's her] most ambitious contribution. In Mothers and Others, she situates this pivotal mother-infant pair not in an empty expanse of savanna, waiting for a man to arrive with his killed game, but where it actually belongs, in the dense social setting of a hunter-gatherer or, before that, an ape or monkey group. Hrdy argues convincingly that social support was crucial to human success, that compared with other primates, humans are uniquely cooperative, and that it was precisely cooperation in child care that gave rise to this general bent...Hrdy's gracefully written, expert account of human behavior focuses on the positive, and its most important contribution is to give cooperation its rightful place in child care. Through a lifetime of pathbreaking work, she has repeatedly undermined our complacent, solipsistic, masculine notions of what women were meant "by nature" to be. Here as elsewhere she urges caution and compassion toward women whose maternal role must be constantly rethought and readjusted to meet the demands of a changing world. Women have done this successfully for millions of years, and their success will not stop now. But neither Hrdy nor I nor anyone else can know whether the strong human tendency to help mothers care for children can produce the species-wide level of cooperation that we now need to survive. -- Melvin Konner * New York Review of Books *Table of Contents* Apes on a Plane * Why Us and Not Them? * Why It Takes a Village * Novel Developments * Will the Real Pleistocene Family Please Step Forward? * Meet the Alloparents * Babies as Sensory Traps * Grandmothers among Others * Childhood and the Descent of Man * Notes * References * Acknowledgments * Index
£20.66
HarperCollins Publishers Inc The Social Paradox
Book Synopsis
£21.25
Indiana University Press Woman Native Other
Book SynopsisA theoretical attempt to grapple with the writings of women of color. It is suitable for those who are struggling to understand voices and experiences of those 'we' label 'other'.Trade Review" ... methodologically innovative ... precise and perceptive and conscious ... " Text and Performance Quarterly "Woman, Native, Other is located at the juncture of a number of different fields and disciplines, and it genuinely succeeds in pushing the boundaries of these disciplines further. It is one of the very few theoretical attempts to grapple with the writings of women of color." Chandra Talpade Mohanty "The idea of Trinh T. Minh-ha is as powerful as her films ... formidable ..." Village Voice " ... its very forms invite the reader to participate in the effort to understand how language structures lived possibilities." Artpaper "Highly recommended for anyone struggling to understand voices and experiences of those 'we' label 'other'." Religious Studies ReviewTable of ContentsThe Story Began Long Ago.....I. Commitment from the Mirror-Writing BoxThe triple bindSilence in timeRites of passageThe GuiltFreedom and the massesFor the people, by the people, and from the peopleVertically imposed language: on clarity, craftsmanship, and She who steals languageA sketched window on the worldThe infinite play of empty mirrorsWriting womanII. The Language of Nativism: Anthropology as a Scientific Conversation of Man with ManThe reign of worn codesThe positivist dream: We, the natives; They, the nativesA Western Science of manA Myth of mythologyWhat "man" and which "man"?Gossip and science: a conversation on what I love according to truthNativist interpretationSee them as they see each otherIII. Difference: "A Special Third World Women Issue"The Policy of "separate development"The Sense of specialnessThe question of roots and authenticityInfinite Layer: I am not i can be you and meThe female identity enclosureThird World?"Woman" and the subtle power of linguistic exclusionSubject-in-the-makingEthnicity or womanhood: whose duality?The Gender controversyIV. Grandma's StoryTruth and fact: story and historyKeepers and transmittersStorytelling in the "civilized" contextA regenerating forceAt once "black" and "white" magicThe woman warrior: she who breaks open the spellA cure and a protection from illness"Tell it the way they tell it""The story must be told. There must not be any lie"NotesSelected BibliographyIndex
£15.19
Te Papa Press Tatau
Book SynopsisThe Sāmoan Islands are virtually unique in that tattooing has been continuously practised with indigenous techniques: the design of the full male tattoo, the pe''a, has evolved in subtle ways since the nineteenth century, but remains as elaborate, meaningful and powerful as it ever was. This richly illustrated cultural history is the first publication to examine 3000 years of Sāmoan tatau. Through a chronology vivid with people, encounters and events, it describes how Sāmoan tattooing has been shaped by local and external forces over many centuries. It argues that Sāmoan tatau has a long history of relevance both within and beyond Sāmoa, and a more complicated history than is currently presented in the literature.Trade Review'It is a visual feast, celebrating the tactile pleasure of a book in the hand, and should be acknowledged as a milestone in contemporary publishing ... a book that will expand and enrich the knowledge of readers throughout Aotearoa, the Pacific and beyond' - Ockham New Zealand Book Awards; 'Lavishly illustrated and beautifully produced, it's no surprise this stunning book has been shortlisted for the Illustrated Non-Fiction Award in the 2019 Ockham Book Awards. Tracing the singular history of Samoan tattooing practices during the last 3000 years, this book is the first comprehensive study that looks at the cultural and practical history of Samoan tattooing.' - New Zealand Herald; 'Exhaustively researched, and enriched with interviews and striking documentary photography, it is a fitting tribute to a vital 3000-year-old tradition.' - New Zealand Geographic; 'An extraordinary, scholarly and richly illustrated word that traces Samoan tattooing from its pre-European beginnings and ponders the contemporary state of the ancient art.' - NZ Listener, selected for Best Books of the Year list, November 2018; '... this history takes a more-is-more approach, with a staggering amount of information, both visual and verbal ... Everything is meticulously and tastefully managed right down to the intricately conceived and designed dust jacket.' - North & South.Table of ContentsForeword: Sean Mallon 10 Foreword: Sébastien Galliot 12 Introduction 14 CHAPTER 1: Tatau: Ancient Traces 19 CHAPTER 2: Tatau: European encounters and observations, 1722–1900 33 Greg Semu portfolio 177 CHAPTER 3: Tatau: Persistence and change,1900–2000 97 Greg Semu portfolio 177 CHAPTER 4: Tatau as a ritual institution, 2000–2010 178 John Agcaoili portfolio 225 CHAPTER 5: Tatau and its globalisation, 2000–2017 241 Postscript 298 Acknowledgements 302 Glossary 304 Bibliography 308 Image credits 319 About the contributors 320 Index 322
£46.39
